The Vongola Winter Vacation Adventures Complete
by VeralicProductions
Summary: There's no school and there's snow everywhere, so what can Tsunayoshi do? Go to a ski lodge with his mafia family! The entire Vongola family and several others are going on a winter holiday, but some unexpected events await. Many different genres.Finished
1. A Good Plan

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

Tsuna and Reborn were sitting at home, studying. Tsuna was hastily scanning over his textbook, trying desperately to ignore the shotgun Reborn was aiming at his head. Even though school was cancelled for the week, Reborn didn't want Tsuna to neglect his studies or training. Tsuna could only think about two things while his eyes were fixed on the page in front of him: His will to live and what he'd rather be doing.

"_I wish I could do something while school's out instead of staying at home with this psychopath. Maybe Yamamoto or Gokudera would want to do something, like so skiing or something. Anything's better than this punishment."_ Tsuna, despite keeping his thoughts within his own mind, heard the clicking of a trigger behind him. Instinctively, he ducked down, smashing his head into the table to avoid a fake bullet from the shotgun.

"Quit procrastinating and start reading," Reborn said as sternly as his infant voice could allow. "Quantum Theory and its Religious Background is an important subject to understand." Tsuna looked up to see a toy bird dangling on the end spring coming from the shotgun.

"_Thank god, he's taking it easy on me today."_

"You just recently honed your skills at the Vongola Ring tournament, and I don't want you getting rusty. It will make me look bad if my student is resting on his laurels so soon after a fight." Reborn stowed his shotgun in his case and sat atop Tsuna's head to lecture him further, when an interruption occurred.

The door flew open, nearly hitting Tsuna and Reborn, and a human shape was plopped on the floor in the doorway. Tsuna turned to discover a drooling, twitching Gokudera blocking his door. Tsuna quickly crawled over and turned Gokudera onto his back, shaking him lightly to wake him up.

"Gokudera-kun! Gokudera-kun, what happened?" Tsuna's question was answered soon, as Bianchi ran in not soon after, holding a dish of writhing purple liquid.

"Little brother, oh my poor little brother," she set down the dish and leaned down to give Gokudera a sobbing hug, to which he spontaneously convulsed on the floor. He must have come by to talk to Tsuna and saw Bianchi accidentally. This hadn't been the first time this had happened, after all. Tsuna heard yet another set of feet running up the stairs to his room, and Yamamoto rounded the corner. Bianchi looked up and assumed that this was the man responsible for her brother's horrible condition, much to her obliviousness.

"You! You tried to kill Gokudera, didn't you!" Bianchi screamed pointing an accusing finger at the startled Yamamoto. He put his hands up to his and waved them innocently.

"No! We came here together to talk to Tsuna!" Bianchi snarled and picked her dish back up off the floor, preparing to throw the acidic goo at the poor boy, when she felt her pant leg get tugged.

"That's enough. He's telling the truth." Bianchi calmed down immediately as Reborn ushered Yamamoto inside Tsuna's room. Tsuna had already dragged Gokudera inside and propped him against the wall.

* * *

Tsuna was now in the good company of his friends…and Reborn. Gokudera was feeling well enough again to sit at the table with Tsuna, and Yamamoto was still grinning his absent-minded grin.

"Your sister sure loves you, Gokudera. I'm jealous, I wish I had a sister like that." He nudged Gokudera with his elbow. Gokudera scowled slightly, then turned to Tsuna across the table.

"So, 10th, I came by because I won a contest at a local grocery store and I thought you'd be interested in the prize!" Gokudera fished in his coat pocket for a while, pulling out several sticks of dynamite before finally finding four crinkled slips of paper. He handed them over to Tsuna, who took one to look over. It was a pass to a ski resort in the area.

"Since we're snowed out of school for the week," Yamamoto started, "we thought we'd swing by and take you and Reborn-san with us!" Gokudera gave another ticket to Reborn, and handed one to his side that Yamamoto graciously took.

"It'll be great, 10th! I'm a great snowboarder, and I'm sure Reborn-san can teach you too! Then the Vongola's will rule the entire mountain!" Gokudera was obviously caught up in the moment, and didn't bother looking at Tsuna's stupified 'are you serious!?' expression. Yamamoto just smiled.

It wasn't long before yet another inevitable thing happened. This time it was Lambo, who was thrown into the door and sent flying across the room. I-pin was standing in the hallway with her palm thrusting forward and a gyoza in the other hand behind her. They were play-fighting yet again, much to Gokudera's chagrin and Yamamoto's amusement.

Reborn was studying the ticket carefully, but still managed to grab Lambo and throw him out the window as he passed him. I-pin followed after into the yard to finish off the dreaded broccoli monster, at least that's what Tsuna picked up from her hurried Chinese. Tsuna was happy about the chance to get out and have some fun, but then the prospect of being taught anything further by Reborn came up again, and doubts came into his mind.

"Let's go." Reborn said suddenly. Gokudera and Yamamoto looked happily at him, while Tsuna just turned with a suspicious look.

"Really?" Tsuna inquired. "It'll be okay to go, Reborn?" Reborn turned to Tsuna and picked up the book they were reading earlier.

"Don't think a ski trip will excuse you from your studies. Instead of doing housework for physical exercise we'll ski and hike all day. Plus, this house is starting to feel rather cramped. I approve of this plan, let us gather the family and head out immediately!" Gokudera looked shocked. He leaned in towards Reborn.

"But, Reborn-san, we only have the four tickets and we can't get anymore! Plus, this was supposed to be a vacation for the boss and his right hand man!" He quickly remembered Yamamoto was still in the room, so he pointed to him, "And he won two of the tickets, so he has to come along too!" Yamamoto perked his eyebrows up and waved his hands yet again.

"It's okay! I don't have to go even though I won the tickets! I can't even stand on a snowboard right." He started scratching the back of his head and looked at Tsuna. "You can choose who else you want to take. It's fine with me, Tsuna." He reached out his hand to give Tsuna his ticket, but it was pushed back.

"It's fine." Tsuna said. "It wouldn't be a great trip if all of us weren't there." Gokudera was hanging his head with shame and defeat, while Reborn pulled out a cell phone and began dialing a number. Tsuna turned to him, assuming he was doing something that someone would deeply regret later.

"Ciaossu. Please get me the," he paused to look at the resort ticket, "Yukikowa Ski lodge and resort. I need to make a few reservations." A sinister grin streaked across Reborn's face. Tsuna retreated a safe distance to the other side of the room, not wanting to discover what Reborn would do with that look on his face.

* * *

The next day, Gokudera and Yamamoto showed up in front of Tsuna's house in a taxi that would drive them to the train station. Tsuna's mother was busy straightening his scarf and telling him not to be a burden on anyone. After bidding his houseguests good bye, he ran out and got in the taxi, followed by Reborn who rode shotgun.

"This should be a great vacation, 10th. I've heard this place has really great food and an awesome hot spring. And the mountain paths are amazing for cross-country and downhill stuff. You excited?" Tsuna chuckled, crammed between his two best friends.

"Not as excited as you. I'm anxious to get there and have some fun though." He glanced up to the front of the car at Reborn, who was sitting in the front seat listening to a CD-player. "Say Reborn, who did you make reservations for?"

Reborn slowly turned and took off his head-phones, having heard his student's question, and answered with a pleasant face,

"Everybody in Tsuna's family."

At first Tsuna smiled, then grimaced as the image of his Cloud guardian, Kyoya Hibari, flashed in his mind. More fearsome was the visage of Mukuro glaring through the black space of Tsuna's mind.

"E-everyone?"

Reborn turned back around without regarding Tsuna's obvious shock and reiterated himself.

"Yes. Everyone."


	2. A Plan in Motion

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

Tsuna's group arrived at the train station ahead of schedule. Their train wasn't due to arrive for another half-hour, so they settled down and waited. Gokudera lit a cigarette to pass the time and Tsuna decided to take a look at the station.

"It's been a while since I was here." Tsuna mused as he went over the last time he went on a train ride that didn't end in explosions or Mafia invasions. This time he was going for a mostly relaxing week in the mountains with his good friends Yamamoto, Gokudera, Lambo, Bianchi…

Bianchi and the children were walking into the station with winter coats on. Bianchi had her goggles on and was wearing an elegant looking winter jacket with scorpion designs on it. Lambo was shivering violentaly in his little green scarf and mittens, while I-pin seemed perfectly comfortable with her Chinese-styled coat.

"Reborn!" Bianchi glided over and wrapped her arms effortlessly around the tiny hitman who was perched on top of a bench. "I'm here, sweetie. Don't you worry. The children held me up only slightly." Gokudera was relieved to see his sister and not start spewing bile, but he kept his guard up just in case.

Tsuna just knew more killers and maniacs would be arriving shortly, so he seated himself next to Yamamoto, who he hoped to give some degree of diversion from the others as they came to Tsuna. This plan was already motioned by Lambo, who came over and latched himself onto Tsuna's pant leg. Tsuna picked Lambo off of him and placed him on the bench.

"What's up, Lambo?" Tsuna said gently, patting the cow-boy's afro.

"B-b-b-bianchi said I couldn't haff a coat, and now I'm coud…" he said through his tears and quivering. "She's so m-m-mean." Lambo moved in closer to Tsuna, who was wearing a very warm looking coat to Lambo. Yamamoto, as if on cue, picked Lambo up and set him on his knee, then wrapped his own scarf around Lambo's torso.

"There you go, kid." He said with a smile, patting Lambo's head. Lambo was still a little frightened of Yamamoto for his pitching arm, but the gift made him warm and calm.

"Are you warm enough, Yamamoto-kun?" Yamamoto flashed Tsuna a thumb up, then his attention reverted to the entrance of the train station. Gokudera was standing at the top of the steps, yelling at someone unseen. Tsuna sighed and picked himself up to go see who it was this time.

* * *

"Nobody asked you, Lawn-head!" Gokudera yelled

"Get bent, Octopus-head! And snuff that cigarette out!" Ryohei shouted back, shaking his powerful fist. Ryohei's group consisted of himself, his sister Kyoko and her friend Haru who Reborn called earlier.

"It's not a problem, Onii-san. Our train may be late if we stay here and…" Ryohei placed a hand in front of Kyoko's face.

"This isn't about time. This is a matter of pride, and health, to the EXTREME! I'm comin' up their, octopus!" Ryohei started stomping up the steps, much to the chagrin of Gokudera and horror of Tsuna, who started watching a few moments ago.

"Gokudera-kun, what did you say?" Tsuna turned with shock as Gokudera was holding two handfuls of dynamite close to several lit cigarettes.

"This punk talks like my old man. 'Smoking's bad, you'll get cancer, you'll give other people cancer'…It's my damn body, I'll do what I want!" Gokudera was mostly just fuming at himself, but backed up from the steps as Ryohei approached.

"Tsuuuna-saaaan!" Tsuna's wandering mind got the best of him, as Haru came flying over the steps and tackled him in a deep hug. He hit his head off the ground and winced as he tried to recover from the surprise attack.

"Haru was so surprised that her Tsuna-san invited her to go on a skiing trip. She didn't know what to wear!" Tsuna finally got free and staggered to his feet. He was relieved to see that Kyoko was just now arriving at the top of the steps and didn't see the lovey-dovey incident with Haru.

"Hello, Tsuna-kun!" Kyoko rushed beside Haru and bowed to Tsuna slightly. "Thank you for inviting me and my brother to the ski lodge. It's been a while since I've been skiing." She smiled graciously and beautifully to Tsuna, who was embarrassingly scratching his head.

"_It wasn't my idea…Kyoko-chan…"_ "I guess everyone could use a break every now and then, heh." Tsuna was interrupted by an explosion. Looking behind him, he saw Ryohei and Gokudera exchanging blows with fists and dynamite. Tsuna's mouth went agape with shock, though Haru and Kyoko seemed to think the two were just playing harmlessly.

* * *

The sight was a bit chaotic for any normal person to see at once. A boxer fighting and explosives expert, a woman trying to seduce a baby, and one poor soul caught up in all the hassle that was this group of misdirected people. A young man with short black hair spotted the newcomer to this chaos as she came to the top of the steps and walked over to greet her.

Chrome stood nervously under the archway that led into the open terminal with her hand clenched in front of her face. She had walked over in her school uniform and felt frozen to her shaking bones. She took a very nervous step forward towards the platform as she noticed the group of people she barely knew fighting over something she couldn't comprehend. Something came into contact with her from behind, something warm.

"You look cold," a cheery and warm voice said from behind her. She turned to see Yamamoto draping his heavy winter coat over her. "This should keep you warm." He walked her over to the bench with a smile and motioned her to sit down beside him.

"You're that friend of Tsuna's from the ring tournament. Chrome Dokuro, right?" She nodded bashfully and stared at her feet for a while. Tsuna worked his way back to the bench when he noticed Chrome. One of his potential worst case scenarios was already met: Mukuro was here, in one way or another. Still, he knew that Mukuro wouldn't just pop out and try to kill him or he would have by now, so he sat down next to Chrome, having given up on keeping the peace between Gokudera and Ryohei.

"Glad you could make it," Tsuna said to her with a smile. She smiled and ducked her head in Yamamoto's coat.

* * *

Soon enough, the train arrived and screeched to a halt in the terminal. A cracking voice over the PA system informed everyone to board the train bound for the Yukikowa Ski Resort. Reborn boarded first in Bianchi's arms, followed by a chatty Haru and smiling Kyoko. Ryohei and Gokudera, both covered in smolder marks from the dynamite fight boarded, glaring at each other. Lambo and I-pin raced in, followed by Chrome.

Yamamoto sneezed as he stepped into the train followed soon after by Tsuna.

"Did you catch a cold already, Yamamoto-kun?" Yamamoto chuckled and sat parallel to the door. It occurred to Tsuna not to soon after boarding that his group of people were the only people on the train. Another thing occurred to him that calmed him considerably: Hibari was nowhere to be seen. It may not be a complete Vongola vacation, but at least now everyone would be coming back from it in one piece.

Tsuna unconsciously sat down beside Reborn, who was all bundled up courtesy of Bianchi's preparedness. He looked over and smiled at his tutor, who gave a positive smirk back. This would be a great trip, provided Gokudera didn't blow up the mountain. A ding sounded over the speakers, signaling the train was about to depart. All the young girls were seated together as Haru and Kyoko introduced themselves to Chrome.

The doors started closing slowly. Yamamoto had his eyes closed and was shivering, having given all his winter clothing to others out of kindness and Tsuna was contemplating whether or not to go over to sit next to Kyoko. Ryohei and Gokudera were glaring at each other from their own seats and the kids were running up and down the train playing, in and out of the car.

The sliding door was loudly caught by a stranger's hand. Tsuna turned to see that the door was being noisily pried open by his only missing fear.

"I must be late," said the ominous Hibari Kyoya as he stepped into the train car. All eyes were fixed on him, some with terror and others with surprise. "Were you all trying to leave without me?"


	3. The Plan Pulls into Station

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

Gokudera and Ryohei rose up in unison to face the threat of Hibari Kyoya that had just walked in to the train and started looking around.

"Hmm," he grunted, "looks like I have the train mostly to myself." Hibari started moving down the car, in the direction that everybody was seated in. His eyes glanced from side to side and he stopped short when he spotted Reborn.

"So you're here too. What a coincidence."

"Ciaossu. It's funny how these things work out, eh?" Tsuna glared at Reborn, fuming over the fact that he invited Hibari and wouldn't admit it to him. Hibari continued down the train car, ignoring Gokudera and Ryohei ready to block him and stepped past them towards a door that led to the next car.

"I'll be in here. If anyone disturbs me," he began, glaring back at the group with a large satchel over his shoulder, "I'll bite you to death." With that, he opened the door and slammed it shut as he entered the next car over. Tsuna sighed a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness that's over." Tsuna said. He wiped away the sweat from his forehead, then remembered something. Lambo and I-pin weren't in the same car as everybody else, they were running around randomly. Tsuna gasped as he gazed in horror at the door Hibari just went through, praying that Lambo wouldn't come from there.

To his immense relief, Lambo came screaming childishly through the other door and started climbing on the seats and jumping up and down like a clown. I-pin followed after him and climbed up into the overhead storage rails. Lambo was laughing giddily.

"Gyuhaihahahahah! Lambo-san loves train rides!" Lambo was stopped and pressed down hard onto his seat. A firm, angry hand was grasping the top of his afro, a hand connected to a fuming (and smoking) Gokudera.

"Settle down you stupid cow! You're driving me nuts!" Lambo looked down at his feet, then recomposed himself and made a mocking face at Gokudera, with a wide pulled mouth and flapping tongue.

"Stupid octopus! Takoyaki!" Lambo jested as Gokudera steamed. Finally, Gokudera picked the tiny assassin up and threw him across the train and into the door leading to Hibari's car. Gokudera winced slightly as to how sturdy the door itself was, then calmed down as Lambo started to get back up with a bruise on his head.

"You big jerk!" Haru's reaction to child abuse was brutal. While Gokudera was distracted with Lambo's position, Haru delivered a swift kick to his groin. Gokudera fell over and whimpered at the pain, while the rest of the company looked at Haru with shock as she rushed over to Lambo.

"Are you okay, poor baby?" Lambo stopped crying to look up at Haru and reply with a perfectly flat face.

"Poop." Tsuna looked almost glaringly at Lambo when he said this.

_How much more immature can a baby get?_ Tsuna pondered as Haru caressed Lambo in her arms. She tittered at him and carried him back to her seat. Kyoko was coaxing I-pin to come down and sit with her. Bianchi was looking on proudly at the two girls, already acting so motherly towards the little children.

* * *

"I can't stand this!" Ryohei shouted. He stood up and started jogging up and down the car. "I'm going stir-crazy in here! How much longer til we get there!?" He busted through the door opposite Hibari's. Tsuna watched as he continued jogging and punching, apparentaly in some strange attempt to train while he has the down time. Kyoko sighed softly, but soft enough for Tsuna to hear.

"What's wrong, Kyoko-chan?" Tsuna asked from across the aisle. Gokudera was still writhing, but he managed to crawl up into a seat so Ryohei wouldn't trample him.

"Onii-san never could stand long trips like this. If he can't move around at all he goes nuts, like that. I'm sorry that he's so much trouble," she said with an embarrassed smile.

"No! It's not any problem, I was just wondering." Tsuna replied, trying to lift the weight of Kyoko's comment off his shoulders. She smiled at Tsuna, then redirected her attention to Haru who was trying to hush a rowdy Lambo.

* * *

"Please Lambo-san, calm down!" Lambo was squirming restlessly in Haru's arms, kicking and flailing to try and get loose.

"It's no use!" he grunted. "I'm gonna explode!" Haru assumed, through the countless times she was with him, just what situation he was in and set him down. Lambo went running off into the empty car. Chrome was curious as to just what this little child had to do with her boss, so she looked after the direction that he ran in.

Yamamoto was warm enough now and had stopped sneezing. He was content watching the scenery fly by as they headed further north into the mountains. This resort was supposed to be a really great place for relaxation and some very highly acclaimed ski courses. There was even a cross-country style course that they offered.

Chrome, in her graciousness towards the gentleman, handed him his coat back. Yamamoto turned back to look at Chrome, who was bowing with his coat in hand.

"Thank you for earlier, but I don't need it right now." Yamamoto smiled and put his hand on her shoulder, directing her attention to his face.

"You can keep it for when we arrive. I'll just buy one at the gift shop." Chrome blushed and drew the coat back towards her, catching herself before she could bring it to her chest. She shook her head and forced it back to him.

"Well, I don't mind the cold very much, and you might get sick if you don't wear it! It's fine, and Bianchi-san said she would share a coat with me if I needed it…" Yamamoto looked at her, then glanced at Bianchi who nodded affirmitavly. Yamamoto took his coat back gently and smiled at Chrome once again.

"Well, if you need another, you can help yourself to mine, okay?" Chrome smiled and nodded, then walked back and sat next to Tsuna and Bianchi.

_Damn suck-up, getting all lovey-dovey with Mukuro's carrige body…_ Gokudera fumed. The pain had subsided considerably, but he was still never going to forgive Haru for what she did. Just when the car seemed as calm as possible, a muffled explosion was heard from the car over where Lambo was. The door opened to a stream of pink smoke pouring forth.

* * *

Tsuna opted to check out what happened before anyone else, mainly because he didn't want Bianchi to kill the obvious newcomer to the train. Just as predicted, the adult Lambo was sitting down and looking out the window. He turned his head to see who came in.

"Yare, yare. You're looking well young 10th Vongola. Where are we, exactly?" Tsuna sighed. The adult Lambo was at least someone he could calmly deal with as long as Bianchi wasn't in the same room.

"We're all going to a ski resort for a vacation." Tsuna said. Lambo perked his eyes before turning back to watch the scenery.

"That's not a bad idea. You should make sure my younger self uses the bazooka more often during your trip, I enjoy skiing." Tsuna smiled innocently as he thought of how lazy the adult Lambo seems to be. "Isn't it a calming sight? To watch the scenery whiz by in a blur, as the water in a stream; these moments in time that one cannot follow, such a beautiful sight, eh Young Vongola?" Tsuna nodded with a smile.

_I guess some intelligent things can come from Lambo in the future_.

"Speaking of whiz, where is the bathroom, young Vongola?" Tsuna's mouth flew open in shock to the pure bluntness of the question.

_Lambo's still the same, no matter how old he is!_ Unconsciously, Tsuna pointed down the car and Lambo got up to walk over. He sidestepped Ryohei as he jogged past and waved to the cow-print shirted man.

"Yo, Sawada-san! We almost there or what?" Ryohei inquired as he jogged in place. Tsuna shrugged casually and Ryohei grimaced. "Well, which way is the conductor? I'll just ask him." Tsuna just realized that Hibari was blocking the way to the front of the train.

* * *

A voice announced over the distorted PA that the train would be pulling in to its destination shortly, and passengers were advised to secure their luggage before the train came to a complete stop. Hibari looked down at his uncovered package that he was hiding in his satchel.

His tiny, wide-beaked bird was busy eating birdseed out of Hibari's hand, having been let out of its cramped cage shortly after Hibari got settled. The peace was only relative to Hibari's car, as he could hear all the chaos and noise from the more heavily occupied car.

"Time to rest again. I'll wake you up when I get settled again." He said to the bird, which finished eating and flew back into its cage. Hibari closed the door and latched it shut, then draped a cloth over it and put it back in his satchel. A few moments later, the train hissed to a stop and Hibari's doors opened at once.

* * *

The group stepped out into the terminal where a cold air greeted them all. Chrome was neatly bundled in Bianchi's heavy jacket, though her legs were still exposed. Bianchi had a sweater on underneath, so she was fine against the cold. Lambo turned back some moments ago and was now back with Haru. Tsuna and Reborn were the last to exit the train.

Tsuna gazed dreamily at the scene. There was snow in all directions, as well as snow covered trees and snow-capped buildings. The entire resort was in full view from the station. Everybody looked across the sweeping area, scanning the various sights and sounds.

"It looks quite nice here, Tsuna," Reborn said. "Good job." Tsuna looked down curiously as his home-tutor hitman walked away with the crowd. Tsuna jogged to catch up and walked beside Gokudera and Yamamoto as they all went to the main lodge to check in.


	4. The Plan's Patience Pays Off

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

Tsuna was at unease. Reborn had been uncharacteristically submissive during their trip and their walk to the lodge. Several people bothered to compliment Bianchi and her child, only to get scorned that the child was in fact her lover. Many curious and cold gazes were set upon the group.

Hibari broke apart from the group going to the lodge so he could enjoy the peace of occupying the resort's coffee shop. His foreboding presence and previous threats of death had driven all but the staff away. The staff was being, in their words, 'held hostage' by a 'demon child'. Tsuna denied being on the same train as Hibari numerous times.

Finally, the main VIP lodge was in sight. It was settled on an artificially-made ridge that overlooked a large, mostly frozen lake and a wide expanse of forest. The whole cabin looked rustic enough, but was of western design. It was a log cabin with three stories and two chimney-stacks jutting from the roof. The stacks seemed to be in use at the moment.

The group entered the main building at the epicenter of the resort to be welcomed by a warm sea of faces. Tsuna was relieved that all the derisive glares they were getting seemed to vanish, but his intuition still sensed something wrong overall. Each smiling face was tense and nervous, and all eyes were focusing on the baby perched on Bianchi's shoulder.

"Reborn," Tsuna whispered to Reborn, "what did you do to all these people? They're looking at you weird…" Reborn just stared forward and lowered the brim of his hat casually.

"I am a hitman, after all." Tsuna's jaw dropped and his eyes whited out for only a second. Then he collected himself and continued walking with his head held down in embarrassment.

_He threatened the staff for a good deal, right? Why did I let myself get involved like this?_ Gokudera took immediate notice to his boss' apparent melancholy and moved in close to him casually.

"What's wrong, tenth?" Tsuna looked back up at his enthusiastic friend and struggled for a smile.

"It's just," Tsuna began in a hushed manner, lest Kyoko or Haru hear, "I wanted this vacation to be about my friends and I, not the Mafia. That's the stuff I wanted to leave behind for a while." Gokudera, donning his friendliest smile possible with a cigarette still smoking in his mouth, tried to comfort the future boss.

"Well, it can still be a just-for-fun weekend, just with the Vongola family along with your friends." He put a hand on Tsuna's shoulder. "And I promise you, no Mafia business will get in the way of my boss having fun and relaxing with his friends this weekend." Tsuna felt better, but the fact that a man lugging around several pounds of dynamite didn't help reassure him.

* * *

The man waiting to receive their signatures at the front desk was the only person in the building not smiling positively at Reborn. In fact, he was openly scorning him through his tinted yellow sports goggles.

"It's been a while, Reborn-san." The group looked surprised at this man, who was directly glaring at Reborn. Gokudera had to ask the obvious.

"Hey! How do you know Reborn-san!" The man glanced at the younger members of the group and smiled at them, then turned back at Reborn with contempt.

"It has been quite a while, Mario. Now, how about those rooms?" The receptionist bared his teeth with a snarl and slid a clipboard towards the group to his left. Gokudera scanned over the piece of paper quickly, seeing everybody's name already written and personally signed. The only exceptions were Kyoko, Haru and I-pin, but the Vongola names were filled in previously.

"What's this?" Gokudera inquired. The man became pleasant yet again upon facing the young man.

"That is the registry. Your names were filled when you all arrived at the station, as per Reborn-san's request." His voice maintained a level of congeniality except for the name Reborn, which was said with a growl.

Gokudera handed the paper back to Haru and Kyoko, along with a pen, and they signed themselves in. The entire group was now properly admitted into the resort, and without regrettable mishap. Tsuna wiped his brow in relief with a sigh.

"So, we can go up to our cabin now?" Tsuna asked. The man politely nodded and motioned his hand to the door across the room that led outside. Two young women were standing on either side with honest smiles on their faces.

"These lady's will escort you across the resort and point out some of the features along the way to your suite." The group smiled eagerly. Tsuna hid his suspicion of foul play under his grin, but he hid it well enough for Reborn to pass him a smile in return.

* * *

"First of all, we would like to welcome you all to the resort. It is a great honor to have an esteemed family such as yours visiting us, especially all the way from Norway." Tsuna grimaced at Reborn, who was smiling and nodding to himself on Yamamoto's shoulder.

Kyoko felt a need to speak up, but Tsuna waved her off and she lowered her hand before it was raised to high up. Obviously, this was all a part of the arrangement that was made with everyone.

"The Yukikowa Mountain Resort is nationally famous as a full mountain sports course all year, with many different routes and courses for climbing and skiing. The natural hot springs are also the best in the area, with minerals and natural calming scenery that just melts all the years of stress away." The women both sighed, obviously longing for a dip in these miraculous springs.

The group continued down a paved road sprinkled with salt. As they toured the grounds the guides made several mentions to the hot springs and where they were, obviously obsessing over them. About halfway through the tour, Hibari had stealthily slid himself back into the group and trailed behind a nervous Chrome.

"Over in that direction is the ski lift terminal, which can take you to any summit you choose." The woman motioned her hand to her left, pointing out a large, circular structure with a myriad of ropes running from it that all went upwards in different directions.

"We should also point out that chairlift number 4 will take you to the summit hot springs, which are at the top of a mountain." They both swooned yet again, the routine making Yamamoto giggle softly.

"These girls sure do like hot springs." Yamamoto said under his breath. Reborn nodded with a smile, and Tsuna chuckled lightly to himself as well. Aside from Hibari finding them again, nothing bad was happening.

"I have a question!" Ryohei exclaimed. The girls looked over at him, holding his hand up in the air.

"Yes, sir? What's you question?" One lady inquired politely

"Are there any bears on this mountain?" Ryohei very brashly asked. The women looked at each other curiously and both shrugged in unison at him.

"Sorry." One said. "We're not sure if there are or not. No one's ever had a complaint about them." The other finished. Ryohei looked angrily disappointed, but then smiled and looked toward the woods.

"Ah well. Maybe I'll get lucky. It's my dream to box with a grizzly bear…" He said longingly. The group looked at him with mixed views (Gokudera seethed and Yamamoto chuckled) but Kyoko hung her head down and sighed regretfully. Her brother was always longing to do dangerous things.

* * *

"Well, that concludes our tour. We hope you all enjoy your stay here, and feel free to call the main desk up if you have any questions regarding our services or information." The group was halted outside their cabin at the end of their tour. There was a small golf-cart type of vehicle waiting that had the word 'STAFF' painted on the side. As the ladies daintily climbed in the cart, one of them turned back to the group.

"Good luck fighting those bears, young man." Ryohei chuckled smugly and flashed a peace sign. The tiny cart sped off down the road and steered back to the main lodge. Tsuna eyed the cabin door quietly and mused to himself over what a great vacation he would have.

"Well Tsuna," Reborn said, "open the door so we can get settled." Tsuna nodded and pulled a glimmering golden key from his coat pocket. He, along with Gokudera and Yamamoto, were each given keys to distribute at their discretion. He inserted the key and heard the tumbler softly click in the door. The door opened slowly to reveal a welcomed sight.

To the right of the entrance was a large fireplace set into the wall with three large couches facing the fire across from a bearskin rug. The far side of the room had a counter that windowed into a pantry type of corridor that was stocked across the walls with gourmet snacks and tea mixes.

To the left of the open door was a staircase that led up and turned around as if heading up again. Most noticeable within the first floor was the roaring fire behind a large metal chicken-wire fencing (to prevent accidental deaths by burning). Besides the fire, however was the 55" television screen to the right of the fireplace. That was the focus of Tsuna's attention at the moment.

The ever clairvoyant Reborn jumped on Tsuna's shoulder and turned his head sharply forward.

"You can watch TV anytime, but right now you're here to ski and study." Tsuna sighed and nodded, moving forward and letting the rest of his group pour into the cabin. Reborn snapped his head yet again in the direction of the stairs.

"Tsuna and I will pick our rooms first. Then, everyone can pick their own room as they wish." Reborn let go of Tsuna's head, which Tsuna himself rubbed in a vain attempt to sooth his pain (and embarrassment). Tsuna walked to the stairs and started up, smiling contently at the situation as a whole.

_Well, at least the hot springs will be nice…_


	5. Let's Hit the Slopes!

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

"Tsuna and I will take this room." Reborn just finished carving the faces of himself and a very crude and scared looking Tsuna in the door. Apparently, Tsuna's lecture about defacing property had gone completely unheard. Their room was the first room on the left on the second floor.

Across the hall was Gokudera and Bianchi's room. The rooming scheme was all Reborn's idea, so Gokudera couldn't complain usefully if he tried. The last doors in the hall belonged to Hibari on the left and Chrome on the right. These two had private rooms due to the general disagreement that they had with everyone else (Chrome being Mukuro and Hibari being himself). The two rooms in between down the hall were to be used as storage for everyone. The left room had the storage for everyone and Hibari usurped the right room for himself.

On the third floor, Kyoko and Haru would share their room with Lambo and I-pin, mainly to keep them in check. Ryohei was across the hall from his sister and Yamamoto was rooming with him. Two of the rooms upstairs were thusly unused. Each floor had a private washroom in each room and two showers per floor. The women were given privileges to use the showers before anyone else in the mornings.

The third floor had access to an open terrace on the roof, offering a wonderful view of the surrounding area. The terrace even had an auxiliary entrance in the form of a ladder that led down to the ground level. With all the rooms in order, the guests were finally ready to enjoy themselves. Everyone retrieved their necessary items and headed out as a group to the main chairlift terminal.

* * *

"Tsuna-san!" Haru squealed joyfully, "Which slope do you want to go on first?" Tsuna glanced in her direction confusedly. He couldn't ski regardless as to which slope he chose.

"10th! Come with me! This slope's supposed to be great for beginners!" Gokudera was already standing in line with Bianchi. Reborn and Ryohei headed off together for the 'Extreme Maniacal Death Course', which seemed to run all the way to the summit of the main mountain.

Kyoko took the children to the kiddy slope, which was actually just a small hill that was near the cabin, and Tsuna had secretly wished he had gone with her. Mainly because he needed to learn how to stand before he tried to ski, and it would have given him a good excuse to try it there.

While he was distracted, Haru had latched onto his arm and started dragging him off to the line Gokudera was waving from. She shot Gokudera a glare, which he shot back with building force.

"It's okay if Tsuna-san doesn't know how to ski," Haru said as she winked at Tsuna happily. "Haru will be a good wife and teach him." Tsuna's face started emitting steam from the embarrassment. If Kyoko had heard that he might have actually died.

"Gokudera-kun, aren't you going on the more advance slopes too?" Tsuna had remembered, inadvertently, that Gokudera had mentioned that he was a great snowboarder. Gokudera looked annoyingly at Tsuna in return.

"Blame Bianchi! She's making me go on this slope with her because she can't ski!" Tsuna and Haru were both surprised that a lady of Bianchi's upbringing and history wasn't a good skier. Bianchi turned calmly with a smile on her face.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm not the one who ran away from home and had to learn to snowboard because I got lost in the mountains." Gokudera's cigarette had almost instantly burnt out in his fury. Tsuna looked away akwardly and noticed something that seemed strange to him.

"Where's your snowboard, Gokudera-kun? Aren't you using it? And where are Bianchi-san's skis?" Gokudera looked back and spat out the cigarette butt, stomping the smolders out as he smiled.

"No worries, 10th," he started at Tsuna, "all our stuff's already up there. They have extra boards and skis up at each station that you can rent or buy. I sent my board up on the accessory lift, so it's already up there." Tsuna was relieved for that. He could see where the skiers would start down from the terminal, so he also knew that it wasn't going to be some horrible death run.

A long chair finally pulled into the station where everyone was waiting. Gokudera and Bianchi boarded and a safety bar locked them in place across their chests. The lift spun around on a mechanical axis and started off and up the slanted rope to the hill. Tsuna and Haru waited for the next chair to pull them up the hill.

* * *

"EXTREME! What a view!" All Ryohei could see from the summit were misty clouds from the snow meeting the warmer air. The slope itself was nearly vertical in some places, and at some point down the mountain just made the potential skiers jump from rock-to-rock with the vain hope of surviving. Reborn used Leon as a pair of skis, whereas Ryohei was going to take the more extreme route with a snowboard.

"So, kid, are you a pretty good skier?" Ryohei asked, unaware of Reborn's duality as Pao-Pao-sensei. Reborn just nodded and started down without any thought or premonition. There was no one personally working at the top of the mountain, just a bin with skis and snowboards in it with the sign 'please take only one set per person' and under it scrawled in dark ink 'we are not responsible for deaths on this course'.

After fishing for a moment for a snowboard that wasn't broken or scratched or written on (mostly just final thoughts and wills) he strapped himself tightly to the board and scooted closer to the steep decline downward. As he felt his body slowly drifting forward, Ryohei had a though.

_I wonder how you work this thing…_"You're doing great, just take it slowly." Kyoko encouraged with a warm smile. Her student's legs were shaking and arms flailing as she tried to find some scrap of balance, then fell straight over yet again. She groaned on the ground and rubbed her head as Kyoko rushed over and helped her up.

* * *

"Thank you, Kyoko-senpai" Chrome said apologetically. Kyoko had offered to teach her and she was still unable to stand while moving on her skis. Chrome had never been to a resort, let alone skied at one before, so when Kyoko opted to teach the kids to ski she gladly accompanied her. Everyone thought she was just imposing her help on someone again, but it turns out that I-pin just wanted to skate anyway.

As for Lambo, no one had seen him in a while, but Reborn had informed Kyoko and Haru that he was already a natural skier and just went ahead to a different lift with Yamamoto. Even though that was true, Lambo of the present couldn't ski if he had to.

"You're really improving, Chrome-chan. Just keep trying and I'm sure you'll get it." Kyoko was Chrome's first real friend so far outside of Mukuro (whom she considered a friend to a degree) that she had ever known. Even though she wasn't doing well at all, Kyoko was encouraging her to do her best and keep trying. Chrome smiled bashfully and tried once again to stand straight while moving down the hill.

Kyoko looked longingly over at the ski lift terminal. Although she wanted Chrome to ski successfully before she headed off to have fun, she couldn't help but think of what the others were doing and how her brother was. And where he was. Her brother didn't say anything about where he was going or what he was doing, just that he was going to 'relax'. Ryohei never relaxed.

"Are you alright, Kyoko-senpai?" Chrome asked from her now seated position with skis pointed skyward. Kyoko rushed over and helped her up.

"Oh, I'm just worrying over nothing, probably. I'm just a little worried about my brother is all." Chrome had just recalled something from earlier in the day that she overheard as the boys from upstairs (Yamamoto and Ryohei) were talking.

"He should be fine, Kyoko-senpai" Chrome said with a comforting smile as Kyoko hoisted her up to her feet again. "He and Reborn were going on the _Extreme Maniacal Death Course_, and he seemed happy enough. There shouldn't be any-ah. Ah! AAHH! Help, Kyoko-senpai I can't stop!" Kyoko's hands had unconsciously gone limp from hearing the news outright. Her face was frozen in fear with her wide eyes and an absent-minded smile. She didn't even hear Chrome crash into a tree.

* * *

"Hey! Little guy, where'd you go!?" Yamamoto had taken his eyes off of Lambo for only a second and he was gone. He asked around and had heard form some of the people at the hilltop of a little kid in a cow-suit running around like an idiot, but he still couldn't find him. If he came back without Lambo after he promised his safety, Yamamoto was hard pressed to imagine a pleasant scenario involving anyone.

Watching over the startled and panicking Yamamoto from a distance, the Adult Lambo was strapping on his skis and readying himself for the first short glimmer of his winter vacation. There was also, unknown to him, a group of anxious female onlookers waiting for him to start his run.

Adult Lambo pushed off and started down the hill with impressive speed. He was carving up each curve very nicely, kicking off small clouds of powder snow as he snaked his way down the bumpy hill. The female group watching from the bottom concentrated on trying to see past his goggles and muffler at any other distinguishing characteristics that they could mercilessly stalk him with.

"Look at his shirt!" It seems that the Adult Lambo had been preparing to be transported for some time in the future, as he was wearing a light sports jacket and some heavier-duty pants over his usual cow-print shirt. The goggles helped him see clearly without snow blowing in his eyes and the muffler kept his face warm enough.

_Ah, it's been a while since I've had the chance to relax like this,_ he mused as he continued down the slope. He was nearing the end to a meager crowd of spectators who were impressed by his maneuvering. _Though, it seems, I can't avoid the young ladies no matter where or __**when**__ I am._ A light chuckle escaped his covered mouth as he reached the bottom and glided over to an open seat and sat down. The effortless suaveness of the stunt granted him a well deserved round of applause.

_It's close to five minutes. I'll have to remember to write Yamamoto-san a note to go with the me of the past on a larger hill._ He picked himself up and ran over to the already taxiing chair lift and proceeded up the hill again. In his rush, he didn't notice the swooning girl sitting next to him.

"Hey there, stud. Are you a professional skier or a model?" He could see a ravenous hunger in his eyes that years of experience had taught him to fear. It was like a baby calf staring down a starving wolf. Not forgetting himself as a gentleman, he undid his safety harness and gave her a silent wink as he plummeted to the soft snow below.

Even his free-fall looked sexy to his onlookers, as he didn't flinch at all while his clothes rustled endlessly in the air. He gave a salute in the direction of the group of girls at the bottom of the hill and disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. Fortunately for the child Lambo, the snow cushioned his fall enough that the impact from the ground only stunned him temporarily.

* * *

In the future, the Adult Lambo landed with his bottom firmly lodged in a metal trashcan with his feet nearly touching his ears. He silently marveled at the unseen antics of his past self, staring at several small and smoking crates that a group of women were gingerly stepping over. He gave them a wave as they rushed over to try and pull him out.

_Even in the past, I am a ladies man. Such is my fate it seems…Yare yare…_


	6. Let's All Have Fun, Okay?

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

"Alright, now point your skis straight to go and cross them to go…less." Gokudera was giving halfhearted instructions to his stumbling older sister, who was slowly getting the hang of her skis. When she put love into something, she could accomplish it, as long as it wasn't cooking. In between Bianchi falling down and walking back up the small hill, Gokudera poured himself into instruction the 10th boss above the obnoxious girl clinging to him.

"Yo, Tsuna-san! Are you having any trouble?" Tsuna turned to the approaching young man with a smile, and Haru turned with a glare. She was holding Tsuna while he strapped on his snowboard so he didn't fall over again.

"Ah, no, we're doing fine Gokudera-kun. How's Bianchi-san doing?" All three turned when they heard a woman shouting loudly in Italian. Obviously she wasn't doing too well. Gokudera only admitted a short glance in her general direction before returning his attention to Tsuna. Haru jumped out in front of him.

"Ahaha! We're doing perfectly fine! So go help your sister. Now!" Haru started pushing against Gokudera to make him go away. Gokudera didn't budge andjust brushed the annoying girl off into the snow. Tsuna watched them silently bicker, trying his hardest not to get in the middle of things.

"No need to rush anything, right Tsuna-san?" Gokudera said, patting his boss on the back heartily. Tsuna wavered for a moment to regain his balance then stood still and smiled back at his impromptu teacher. "Just take your time and find your center. Every good snowboarder needs to be balance before he tries to…" A swift smack to the head interrupted Gokudera's instructions.

"Don't you push me!" Haru yelled.

"Hey! I'm helping the Boss and you're in the way!" Gokudera spited back.

"My Tsuna-san doesn't need _your_ help! He needs a caring touch!"

"Duh, you dumb girl! What'd ya think I'm trying to do!?"

"Uh, guys?" Tsuna attempted to interject.

"Oh, Hayato-kun…" Gokudera's attention was caught by a fuming and demonic looking Bianchi with her hand on her goggles. Gokudera anticipated what would happen, but couldn't react quickly enough and started drooling on the ground in terror.

"H-help! HELP!" Haru and Bianchi darted their heads towards Tsuna, who was now drifting quickly backwards down the slope and towards some trees. Bianchi was tempted to shrug it off and continue to berate her little brother, but Haru sprang right into action and jumped down the slope in her skis.

"Don't crash, Tsuna-saaaaan!" Tsuna continued to gape at the retreating landscape and the distant Haru as he drifted ever back into the thicket of trees.

* * *

"EXTREME!" Ryohei shouted as he descended vertically through the air and onto the slope yet again. Still only halfway down the mountain, he was jumping with total abandon from jagged, deadly rock to rock as the snow slowly started build back up again. When his board touched down on the powder, it flew up in a hazy cloud that pierced the thickening air.

Reborn was much further down, having a superior method of transportation and lesser wind resistance. His method was less extreme than the overly exited young man trailing him, as he weaved and dodged between the spires of crag and glided over the snow below him. The mountain was starting to slant out slightly more the closer to the bottom he got.

Reborn's inner hitman was telling him that something was wrong back where everyone else was. There was a heavy fog in his mind over what that thing was, and that's what had bothered him. His inner voice of relaxation told him that it would be revealed when it needed to be and dealt with accordingly. Until then, he was to enjoy the mountain skiing and try to beat the quickly advancing young man behind him to the bottom.

"Yo kid! Is this extreme or what! It's the most fun I've ever had outside of boxing," he swerved to avoid a rock and slouched to try and speed up, "this week, anyway!" Reborn sensed that the Sun Guardian meant business and sped up himself with a smile.

* * *

Hibari was given the task to make sure I-pin didn't injure herself or get lost while she was ice skating, since he would be in that area as well. He had been skating for a while, mainly just picking out 'herbivores' and circling them tauntingly until they passed out or tried to run away.

Now, he was contently sitting at the lakeside snack bar harassing the staff and patrons with threats of death-biting. He was keeping an eye on I-pin, mainly just glancing around to see if she was still there and turning back immediately. I-pin seemed to be heavily attached to him and continuously beckoned him over. He ignored these and continued to sip from his cocoa, 'courtesy' of the barista.

"More hot chocolate, sir?" a male voice asked from behind Hibari.

"No, but you can get out of my air." Hibari took another long sip from his steaming mug as the man sat down, much to Hibari's annoyance and chagrin.

"That's rude, don't you think? I think it would get lonely to sit by yourself all the time. But then again," the man said in a horrifically familiar voice, "that what a cloud is, right?" Hibari turned with visible rage to confront his seated annoyance.

Wearing a dark blue sports coat and a pair of baggy sports pants all under the indigo scarf with a misty design on it, this man was infuriating. Hibari smashed the table to pieces and noticed no one else was around but he and his nemesis. He glared into the mismatched eyes of this despicable visage that was **Mukuro Rokudo**.

"Kufufufufu. Always so excitable, aren't you Kyoya-san? How are you supposed to enjoy this vacation of ours if you can't relax?" Hibari jumped back at the demon's remark and drew out his tonfa to face his smiling foe. Mukuro raised his hand up to stop him, and Hibari was instantly entwined within an illusionary mesh of lotus vines.

"Let me out you coward, or are you afraid of me?" Hibari spat. Mukuro scoffed and walked forward, ignoring the continuous stretching of the vines.

"Relax. I'm not even really here. This is an illusion. I just wanted the opportunity to talk with you as a civil human being." There was a very subtle joking tone in Mukuro's voice as he said this, mainly emphasized during his reference as a 'civil human'. Hibari grunted with narrow and shimmering eyes full of burning hate.

"I doubt that highly." Mukuro tittered lightly, in keeping with his innocent image, and sat down. A soon as he sat, the scene changed instantly to the interior of a nearly lightless prison cell, barely big enough for the both of them. Hibari's binds were lessened to simply keep his hands and feet bound to an uncomfortable chair.

"I'm only here for a short time, so allow me to deliberate my purpose. I want you, Kyoya Hibari," his eyes narrowed to a glare, and the flame from his right eye started to flicker ominously as he smiled casually, "to have a nice vacation with the others." Hibari blinked. The landscape changed once again to the Namimori campus, covered with snow several feet deep.

"What?" Hibari blurted.

"That's it. This is your family, even if you don't want them to be. I especially want to make sure Chrome has a good time. The poor girl deserves a break from Ken and Chikusa." Mukuro felt himself trailing off, so he decided to end the illusion slowly. Hibari was once again seated casually at his private table on the lake.

"What if I decide that neither you or Chrome should live?" Hibari growled as Mukuro started to dissolve into mist. With a laughing smile he replied

"Then, I'll have to bite you to death"

Mukuro was gone, and the chatter of the people occupying the deck resumed as if it had never stopped. Hibari still fumed over the intrusion of that horrid wretch and contemplated his own murderous scheme against Mukuro's pet, but the idea was quickly abandoned and he took a sip of his still steaming cocoa.

_I'm sure he will resurface again if he intends to. And if not then I know a way to provoke him. For now, I shall relax. It's not like anything more agitating will occur anytime soon… _His was now out of hot chocolate and donned a terrifyingly murderous visage. This was the straw that had broken his back, and the table was obliterated under the swift strike of his angry fist. The entire staff of the stand ducked behind the counter and the deck was evacuated within a second.

"Excuse me," Hibari said while raising his head, "but I seemed to have spilled my cocoa. May I have another?" The quivering baristas of the snack stand nodded their heads in a blur and rushed fervently to prepare his drink. Hibari calmly sat down with his heavy coat draped over his shoulders like he normally wears a jacket. His emotionless and threatening face stared off into space as he waited for his service.

* * *

"Alright, little guy," Yamamoto said with a wide smile, "let's try again, okay?" Lambo was lying in the snow, legs flailing in the air. Yamamoto trodded over through the snow and pulled him up onto his shoulders.

"No more," Lambo said dizzily, "Lambo-san wants to stop." He shook his head and let out a short storm of snow blow out of his afro. "Hey Takeshi! Let's make a snowman!" Yamamoto giggled and rubbed the child's head with a far reach.

"Alright! We'll head back and make ourselves a whole bunch of snowmen! How about that?" Lambo cheered as they walked off the slope and into the spectator's trail to head back. Yamamoto could've sworn that he heard a crash through the tree wall, but he shrugged it off and kept walking.


	7. Please, Let's Just Have Fun

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

Kyoko sat shivering with a blanket draped over her in the house. Chrome decided to sit next to her so the continuous panic she was building would settle quicker. Once Kyoko had found out her brother's whereabouts, she couldn't stop worrying no matter how hard she tried.

She had spent well over half an hour discussing with herself that her brother was very strong and wouldn't get hurt, but the facts about the mountain that she heard from the staff weren't very calming. More people died on that mountain than those who actually went up it.

Chrome had been doing her best to comfort her new friend, considering that Mukuro-sama wasn't in her head at the moment. She had considered using her illusions to ease her friend's pain, but the reality of just how long she would be able to hold a solid one outweighed her capabilities. She couldn't do it if she wanted to, and she did.

"Cheer up, Kyoko-senpai. I have faith in your brother, and you should too. You said yourself that he wouldn't get hurt easily." Chrome noticed that she had managed to stir her friend slightly. She still had a lasting look of shock on her face, but it was slowly spinning itself into a grin.

"I know. I shouldn't worry so much and ruin everyone's vacation. But he's my brother, so I can't help but worry…sorry." She looked up at Chrome through her pitious eyes with a smile. "I just can't help but worry for other people. It's what I do." Chrome looked at her with wide but happy eyes. All her concern for her paid off, and she seemed to be better.

"You two are really alike, you know." Kyoko looked confused at her friend that was musing at the ceiling. "You and Tsuna-kun are a really good couple." Kyoko dropped to the floor and scrambled to recover herself.

"We, w-w-we aren't a…a couple. We're friends!" Kyoko pleaded, waving her hands in the air for innocence. Chrome broke from he dreaminess and looked embarrassingly at her friend on the floor.

"Wah! Really!? I didn't mean to embarrass you, I just assumed is all. I'm sorry." The awkwardness lasted for a brief moment, then the girls sat up on the couch again as if nothing happened and let out a synchronic sigh. "Sorry" Chrome squeaked again.

"It's alright," Kyoko said apologetically. "I overreacted…and it's not really the first time I've heard that…" The silence picked up again. Eager to keep Kyoko off the touchy subject of her brother's safety, Chrome formulated a sort plan.

"You know, we should try and cook some diner. It would be rude for us to impose ourselves on the nice people at the resort…and I'll do whatever I can to help since I can't cook very well." Chrome looked concerned at her unmoving friend, but sighed easily when Kyoko smiled and stood up, dropping the blanket back on the couch.

As Chrome picked herself up to walk back to the kitchen, a short nearly silent burst of noise fizzled in the back of her mind. She smiled and walked with a happy smile at the sound.

_Hello, Mukuro-sama!_ She cheerfully chirped to her ethereal friend in her head. A warningly familiar voice (to her) laughed softly and answered her.

_Hello, Nagi-chan. Are you having a good time?_ Chrome nodded as she followed Kyoko into the kitchen.

* * *

After some trial and error, Tsuna had finally gotten the hang of not falling straight down all the time and had gotten nearly to the bottom of the slope. Gokudera loudly praised him, and Haru tried to out-praise him. Tsuna was the only one there, however, that was praising the actually good student of the day, Bianchi. She was a natural at skiing, and wanted to try using a board before the day was over.

"Oh Gokudera-kun!" Bianchi beckoned. Gokudera flinched and turned around to approach the smiling woman as she crested the chair lift to the top of the slope. He had learned previously that his sister came first, whether he wanted her to or not. That didn't mean that he had to go along with a cheery façade, though.

"WHAT!?" He spat, keeping the cigarette in his mouth. Bianchi waved him to come over as she hopped off the chair and Gokudera begrudgingly paced over. Tsuna hopped off as well and grabbed the board he had been using from the accessory rack. The mechanism was very helpful in that all you had to do was place your equipment on a platform and it is carried up alongside your chair.

"Tsuna-san!" Haru cheered and waved from her position at the top of the slope. "Watch me, watch me!" Tsuna smiled shyly and waved over to her. She pulled down her goggles and started down the hill with a burst from her skis. Haru was a rather adept skier, much to Tsuna's surprise, and her pointers had been helpful to Tsuna regarding balance and speed. The pointers only worked if Tsuna _didn't_ think about falling down constantly, though.

Tsuna watched as Haru glided down the slope, gracefully cutting her turns and maneuvering past the large bumps of snow. She was smiling all the way down, most likely from the fact that Tsuna was watching her. She did her best not to fall or falter, she cut the turns wide enough that she wouldn't wipe out and she finally reached the bottom with a perfectly graceful glide.

_Did he see me?_ Haru gleefully thought as she turned around. All she could see of her beloved Tsuna were his legs in the air and his body under snow. He must've taken off just after she started as well, but obviously crashed. Her lips puffed out in aggravation over the fact that her entire routine went unnoticed.

"Boss, you okay?" Gokudera said as he pulled Tsuna out of the drift he was settled in. After forcefully dislodging the snow that was filling his mouth, Tsuna gave a brief nod.

"I think," Tsuna started in a frazzled tone, "I'm done on the slopes for today." Gokudera chuckled in an attempt to make Tsuna laugh and walked with him off the main slope and onto a trail. Bianchi and Haru waited at the bottom of the slope for the boys, both apparently having the same idea.

* * *

"My god, is he for real?" some female bystander asked her friend. The gossip and commentary hadn't stopped since people first spotted him: the white haired young man that came from the deadliest slope in the resort. His movements were stiff and almost robotic, but there was a wide smile on his face. Even through the wild chattering of his teeth (and bones) one could still here the mumbling of some innate compliments.

Currently, besides being alive, Ryohei was only thinking of how insanely extreme it had all been. Reborn was much better off and was sitting happily on Ryohei's frost-covered shoulder. His path down the mountain wasn't much easier, but he was much more skilled in overcoming terror on the field of battle than the young man he was riding.

"Extreme…that was so…ah…" Ryohei managed to creek out of his nearly paralyzed mouth. The cool valley air was slowly defrosting him, despite how cold it had remained all day, and he walked back to the cabin leaving a trail of water droplets behind him.

"That certainly was a large mountain," Reborn stated. "Perhaps we'll take it easy tomorrow." Ryohei didn't give any form of attention to the infant on his shoulder. Instead, he threw his arm pointing forward (followed by a short stream of icy shrapnel from the sudden movement) and continued accelerating towards the cabin.

"EXTREME!!"

_He certainly has a one-track mind,_ Reborn thought._ That could be good in the future, or bad. Tsuna will have to deal with it though. It's his family._

* * *

Tsuna and his group arrived to the monumental sight of a mock war, with two complete armies of snowmen bordering both sides of the walkway to the cabin. Someone had been building these snowmen since mid-day, it seemed. The only people who were close by that could've done it were Kyoko and Chrome.

"Oh! You guys are back!" a friendly voice shouted from inside the field of snow soldiers. Yamamoto stepped out from behind a snowman and carefully worked his way back onto the road that divided the batches. He rubbed the back of his neck earnestly and explained

"Me and the little guy got bored of skiing and falling down, so we decided to make some snowmen. I guess we may have gone a little overboard, but once he started he couldn't stop." He paused to catch his breath and look at his friends. Tsuna was looking rather shocked that they could make this many so quickly, Haru was cheery that Takeshi and Lambo had gotten along so well, and Gokudera expectantly fumed.

The sound of crunching snow and Chinese babbling was soon heard from the opposite path that led to the lake. Hibari was returning with a chatty I-pin following at his side. Tsuna sighed heavily that she wasn't exploding at the moment, relieved that her initial embarrassment had been quickly overcome. Hibari had the same 'kill everyone' expression on his face and didn't shoot the other group a passing glance as he stomped into the cabin.

"I-pin-chan! Did you have fun with Kyoya-san?" Haru cheerfully asked. I-pin nodded happily, then spurted some more Chinese conversation. Bianchi followed after Haru and I-pin as they entered the house, leaving the boys outside. Yamamoto looked over his friend's shoulders at an approaching and half-thawed Ryohei.

Ryohei shot up his hand in greeting at the small group gathered outside the cabin. Reborn also waved to the three boys as he and Ryohei approached them. Gokudera waved back at Reborn, completely ignoring the fact that Ryohei had icicles hanging from his meager hoodie sleeve. Tsuna rushed over almost immediately.

"Sasagawa-onii-san, are you alright? You look like you've been frozen." Tsuna yelled in concern at the still mechanically marching young man. Reborn instantly switched shoulders for his student, who turned on him with equal speed.

"Reborn, what did you do to Ryohei-san!?" A writhing pain soon came over Tsuna as reborn pinched his ear.

"We were just enjoying our vacation as much as possible. How was your day?" Tsuna re-gathered himself from the subsiding pain and smiled.

"Great" was his brief reply. Noticing Yamamoto trying to break up Gokudera and Ryohei from killing each other, Tsuna started walking over to join his friends. Reborn secretly smiled at his student's fervent attempt to keep the peace as the group headed inside the warm cabin.


	8. At Least Dinner Will Be Nice, Right?

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

The supple scent of cooked food was flooded into the group's collective noses as they stepped inside the cabin's living room. The couches had been moved around and a long table was placed in the middle of the floor.

The girls had prepared a rather large amount of food in a small amount of time. At every place on the table was a full course meal, including rice, a bowl of fish and beef, chicken strips and glasses of water.

Kyoko and Chrome were standing on the other side of the table dressed casually in light shirts and skirts, smiling at everyone that came in.

"Welcome back, everyone!" Kyoko cheerfully said. "Chrome-chan and I just got done baking. Please, help yourselves." Everyone (except for Hibari) was smiling widely at the table. Lambo was openly drooling on Haru's shoulder.

"Please everyone," Chrome timidly started, "enjoy yourselves. Even though I didn't do much at all…" Kyoko poked Chrome lightly with her elbow.

"What are you talking about?" Kyoko chided. "You cooked nearly everything, didn't you? Chrome-chan moved so fast with the food all I could do was steam the rice." Tsuna's eyes shot open at this, though it seemed that no one else took it to heart. He had been hoping to enjoy Kyoko's cooking when he saw her standing there.

_I wonder where Chrome learned to cook?_ Tsuna thought. He imagined those two guys that followed Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa, and Chrome running back and forth in their hideout, carrying clothes and steaming pots. Then he replaced Chrome with Mukuro and tried to stifle his laughter.

Tsuna took his seat in the middle, across form Kyoko. Gokudera stormed across the room and seated himself happily next to his boss. Yamamoto casually sat on the other side of Tsuna. Ryohei sat next to his sister, who was already sitting next to her friend Chrome. Haru seated Lambo and I-pin across from each other at the end of the table and sat on the other side of Chrome. Bianchi sat next to Reborn at the opposite end of the table, across from an empty seat.

"Hibari-san, won't you join us?" Kyoko politely asked. The rest of the girls turned to him as he picked up a plate, stacked it with food, and left for the stairs. The guys, excluding Lambo, just focused on their own plates lest they accidentally provoke him.

"He seems grumpy." Lambo blurted at Tsuna as soon as Hibari was gone from sight. "Does he have to make a poo?" Tsuna just shook his head automatically, expecting what the young assassin would say before he said it.

"Kyoya just isn't a big people person, that's all." Reborn said to clear up the confusion of the unknowing people. With the trouble cleared up and everyone ready to eat, the party began their meal with a quick 'itadakimasu'.

* * *

"This food's really great, Chrome-chan!" Yamamoto said about halfway into the meal. Chrome was only eating a meager portion herself, not wanting food to anyone else. She blushed, staying as modest as she could, despite all the compliments she was receiving.

"It's nothing, really. I'm glad you like it though, Yamamoto-san." Chrome responded quietly.

"THIS FOOD'S EXTREMELY GOOD!" Ryohei spontaneously shouted. Gokudera reached across the table and smacked the overly excited young man.

"USE YOUR INSIDE VOICE, JERK!" Gokudera yelled. Ryohei blinked at him and glared angrily. After polishing his rice bowl, Ryohei attempted to jump across the table at Gokudera.

"COME HERE, OCTOPUS BOY!" Ryohei yelled. Tsuna tried to break them apart, as did Kyoko. Finally, with the help of Yamamoto added to the mix, the boys were back in their seats and glaring at each other.

"Onii-san, please settle down" Kyoko pleaded. Ryohei just kept glaring and eating, ignoring his little sister. Kyoko looked worried and waved her hand in front of his face. He turned immediately to his sister.

"Yo. Great food, Kyoko-chan! It's really good." Ryohei said with a smile at his sister and a thumb up. Chrome leaned over and looked at him curiously. She could have sword that she said she made the food to everyone.

"No, I didn't make it," Kyoko admitted to her brother, "Chrome-chan did." Ryohei looked at Kyoko curiously. He put a hand up to his ear and cupped it.

"Why're you mumbling so soft, Kyoko-chan? Speak up." Kyoko recoiled and shot a worried glance over to Reborn, who was neatly eating his food with a knife and fork which hadn't been there when the girls had set.

"The ride up and trip down the mountain must have caused his eardrums to pop severely. He'll be fine. It happens sometimes." Reborn calmly explained. Kyoko gasped loudly, which Ryohei heard as a soft gasp.

"What's wrong, Kyoko-chan? You scared about something?" Ryohei innocently asked. Suddenly, Kyoko shot up from her seat, ran into the next room and came back with a funneled piece of paper. She held it up to her brother's ear and calmly explained.

"Everything will be okay, Onii-san! Just please don't do anything dangerous tomorrow, okay?" Ryohei caught the message loud and clear. He realized what must have happened and went to the most logical conclusion possible. He took a flying tackle across the table and pinned Gokudera to the ground.

"YOU AND YOUR DAMN EXPLOSIVES MADE ME DEAF!" Ryohei concluded. Yamamoto rushed over to try and separate the two. Tsuna collapsed his head on the table and started to lightly cry while feigning a smile.

_This is a nightmare. How could this possibly get worse?_ It was around now that Tsuna perked himself up and noticed that the cook of tonight's meal was absent. It just got worse for Tsuna, and he rushed upstairs.

* * *

Chrome put on her jacket and proceeded to the third floor, where she thought Hibari had gone. He was indeed there, eating his meal on the terrace and watching the sun slowly sink behind the mountains. He took a sip from a steaming cup and set it down, while Chrome closed the door quietly behind her.

"Is it good?" she plainly asked. Hibari swallowed the food in his mouth and nodded. Chrome took a few more steps forward and stood silently while Hibari finished his meal. The tension in the air was nearly visible between the two. Finally, Hibari stood up and stared at the mountains while adressing the girl behind him.

"We never properly met, did we?" Hibari asked bluntly.

"No. I'm afraid we didn't" Chrome replied.

"How are you associated with Mukuro's henchmen, the dog and…other kid?"

"Who? I go to school with Ken and Chikusa, but I've never heard of a Mukuro."

Hibari was silent for a few seconds and turned to face Chrome, who looked at him with her one purple eye.

"What happened to your right eye?" Hibari asked. Chrome lowered her eyelid and looked at the floor.

"I was in a car accident a while ago and lost my eye…" She solemnly answered.

"Hmph." Hibari grunted as he sat back down, facing away. Chrome smiled to herself under her dark veil of shadow.

_Kufufu. This is going just as Mukuro-sama predicted. As long as I act innocently, Hibari-san won't be suspicious of me._ Chrome mused to herself.

"Why do you have the same hair as Mukuro, then?" Hibari proded.

"I've always styled my hair like this, and I told you that I don't know anyone named Mukuro." Chrome shot back, faking frustration and smiling to herself.

"…I see. But just how did you come about being discovered by Sawada-kun and his ilk as a member of their little club?" Hibari asked in a sinister way. Chrome didn't want to pause for her answer, but knew what she had to say.

"The baby approached me and asked me to join." Hibari's eyes shot open at this revelation. His interogation was deemed a success.

So, that baby really is behind this whole thing. If I can perhaps take a control over him, then I could use him to discover just what exactly all this Mafia bull is about. What's more, for a baby to be able to overpower all these people at once is astonishing. I must find out what I can.

"Forgive this little questionair," Hibari said as he gathered his plates and started towards the door. "The food was good, by the way." He went through the door, just barely passing Tsuna on his way down the stairs. Chrome started back inside as well, but was stopped before she could get in the door.

"Chrome-chan!" Tsuna called, throwing open the door. Chrome's face had stopped the door form opening the whole way, fortunately. She whimpered and fell to her knees with her face still imbedded in the wood of the door. Tsuna realized his unfortunate mistake a moment or two too late and gulped loudly.

* * *

"It's alright, boss." Chrome said as Bianchi dabbed away the spots of blood from Chrome's face where the door had hit her. Chrome was smiling regardless, and Tsuna was sulking heavily on the couch that the rest of the party (excluding Hibari, who immediately retired to bed) had moved back into place.

"I'm still really sorry, Chrome-chan. I should have known you were there, or at least not throw the door open so hard." Tsuna said apologetically. Gokudera saw this as a moment to get in better with his boss and sat next to him, patting him on the shoulder.

"Hey, don't sweat it boss." Gokudera encouraged. "Dokuro-chan's not hurt that bad, and she's not mad. Besides, that's probably the last major incident that'll happen tonight and we can all get a good night's rest for tomorrow." Tsuna looked up at the smiling Chrome as she winced slightly from the pain of having her nose bandaged and then looked over to his smiling friend.

"That's right young Tsuna," Bianchi said, joining in to the conversation, "if you have the best intentions then no one can be sore with you. Just reach into yourself and find that compassion of yours to give to another." Tsuna chuckled and nodded, but quickly reverted his face back to a fearful one as he saw Bianchi get up and prepare to face him for a powered speech, sans goggles. Gokudera saw this as well, but was too late to react.

And so, at the end of the first day, Ryohei was temporarily deaf, Chrome had a bruised nose and Gokudera was put to bed with severe stomach problems all night. All in all, however, the day could have been worse. The lights went out in the luxurious cabin and all its occupants drifted off slowly to sleep, leaving behind all their worries for next week and anticipating what would happen tomorrow.

Tsuna however, went to sleep twitching and squirming, fearing what would happen eventually rather than how he could enjoy himself the next day. It was going to be a long week.


	9. It Begins, The Horrible Hot Spring Trip!

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

In other completely irrelavent news, our penname main page has my new poll on it, **'Whose Reborn Hair would you want the most?'** Go and vote if you get the chance, please!

* * *

The next morning, everyone started waking up to enjoy the next day of their week long vacation. Tsuna, however, didn't want to contemplate the horrors that waited for him to endure today. Already, people had brushed with death and he accidentally crushed Chrome's nose. Tsuna also knew, however, that Reborn wouldn't let him sleep in, regardless to his mental exhaustion.

As Tsuna left his room, leaving a sleeping Reborn to finish whatever dream he was having, he met with Hibari in the hallway. Tsuna waved to him, and to his surprise, Hibari waved back before proceeding downstairs. Perhaps the close proximity had made Hibari less distasteful to those around him, at least for now. Either way, Tsuna was glad.

He was glad, up until he went into the bathroom to take a shower. Completely unassuming that anyone was even in the bathroom, he walked in on Chrome redressing herself after trying to take a shower. Chrome whipped around from pulling up her pajama bottoms just in time to watch the blood drain from her boss's head and poll onto the floor.

And so, the morning went on without Tsuna, who had lost a lot of blood from unknown causes that everyone assumed to be a very nasty bump (everyone but Chrome, who kept silent so as not to embarrass Tsuna further). It was after everyone woke up entirely that the main problem had been discovered.

"Well, none of the showers are working, and the sink seems to be broken as well." Kyoko announced to everyone sadly. She plopped herself down on the couch next to a still half-asleep Haru and leaned her head on her fist in thought. "What should we do?"

"Well, I know what I'm doing!" Gokudera yelled from across the room. He was dialing on the phone with one hand and trying to light a cigarette in the other.

"Oi, Octopus! No smoking inside!" Ryohei shouted angrily. Kyoko walked over and motioned him to sit down and ignore it. Gokudera tapped his foot impatiently as the line continued to ring. Finally, the other line connected with a female voice cheerfully asking

"Hello, and thank you for calling. How may I direct your call today?"

"Our water's broken! Fix it!" The phone slammed down and the dial tone began to sound from the woman's end. She stared blankly for a few moments, then started re-dialing the number that had just called. Gokudera was leaning against the open doorway and breathing his smoke outside with a grin.

"Piece a' cake." He said smugly. The phone began to ring again and Gokudera seethed at it to stop. Yamamoto picked it up.

"Hello?…Yes, I apologize for that. My friend is…okay….thank you too, ma'am. Goodbye." With that, Yamamoto hung up the phone and turned back to the rest of the group, which was waiting eagerly to hear from him.

"Well, there's no water, that's for sure. They said we can't take any showers right now, but…" Yamamoto was cut off by the angered and shrill cry of

"NO BUTS!" from Haru. "Do you know what happens to my hair if I can't get a shower in the morning! It's horrific…" She whined as she slumped back into a puddle of pity.

"…but they said that we can use the hot spring, free of charge!" The reaction was much more positive this time. Instead of sneers and shouts, the girls of the group were cheering happily with each other. Hibari was already wearing a coat and heading for the door, meaning that he must have called earlier.

As everyone went upstairs to gather their required luggage to take a dip in the hot springs, Chrome stayed in the living room with Tsuna. She felt unbridled guilt for accidentally incapacitating the poor boy that she revered, and especially how she did it. She wanted to wake him up and tell him how sorry she really was, but his face was still the palest white. Then, an idea came to her, one that only she would be able to accomplish. She placed her hands on her boss's still unmoving and pale head, then closed her eyes and concentrated on retrieving the images in his mind.

She saw the entire scene through Tsuna's eyes, and (after mourning on how skinny she looked through someone else's eyes) she began to rearrange the scene. It was akin to rewinding a tape with some incriminating evidence, then taping over that section of the tape in a way that everything else about the tape seems normal. So in Tsuna's memory, instead of Chrome naked he stumbled in on Reborn in his boxers. After which, Reborn shot him with a fake bullet that seemed real enough to make Tsuna faint.

* * *

Tsuna's eyes shot open and he raised himself up from where he sat. He put a hand to his now stinging head and mumbled some curses about Reborn under his breath before getting up from the couch. His foot met something that wasn't floor, but something softer and almost squishy. He looked down to see the unconscious Chrome and his foot resting on her partially exposed belly. He gasped, retracted his foot, and swapped himself with Chrome instantly before running upstairs to get help.

With that morning's chaos now under control and Tsuna nearing his hundredth apology to Chrome, the group was ready to head off for a relaxing day of mineral water and hot tea while bathing. Although skeptical himself, Tsuna couldn't help but be glad that today would finally be peaceful, now that Ryohei couldn't do anything extreme or dangerous and Gokudera couldn't easily upset his sister. Plus, Hibari had already gone, which was just one less worry piled on Tsuna's back. After a short walk across the grounds, they all boarded individual chair lifts to their pre-designated and reserved spa.

"Well, here we are!" Gokudera said with much relief.

"Thank god. Finally some real rest." Tsuna happily mused.

"I can't remember the last one of these I went to!" Yamamoto announced.

"Ha-hi! It's so gorgeous on the outside! I can't wait to get in!" Haru declared gleefully.

Ryohei blinked at the sign that read 'Hot Spring Sauna: Come in and forget your troubles!' As if hoping that the sign would change to something along the lines of 'Extreme Bear Fighting: Fight til you DIE!'

"Eh! AHH! Kyoko-chan, what is this? A hot spring isn't extreme at all" Ryohei whined loudly at his little sister. "I've been tricked! I'm going into the woods to find some bears!"

"Onii-san!" Kyoko shouted. Ryohei stopped dead in his tracks and started to shiver. With great reluctance, he turned around and gave a defeated sigh.

"Fine." He admitted. "But tomorrow, bears." With that, everyone seemed happy and they all entered together.

The girls all split up and took the kids with them, excluding Reborn, and the boys went off on their own. The woman at the front desk had nervously let them all pass after being warned from the main office that these people were special guests that were to receive the utmost treatment and a free pass.

* * *

The boys stored their clothes in the lockers that were provided and entered the conjoined baths. Much to Tsuna's relief, the baths had been separated by a large stone wall to divide the boys and girls' sides. At least nothing overly embarrassing could happen this way. Tsuna also noticed, upon entering the steaming water, very slowly, that Hibari had already taken residence of the far side of the baths and was drinking something on a floating tray.

"Hey! Can you guys hear us!?" One of the girls yelled from the other side of the rock wall. Tsuna twinged for a moment then gathered himself.

"Yeah, we can." Tsuna half-shouted, half-whimpered in reply.

"Is Lambo-chan over there with you?" Haru yelled. The boys looked at each other, then around in the spring for a sign of the afro'd little boy.

"I'm gonna go look in the lockers," Yamamoto declared with slight emergency. "The little guy could've gotten locked in one."

"Don't bother, Lambo is fine Yamamoto-san." Another boy's voice said from the lockers. Tsuna and Gokudera both turned to see the adult Lambo stepping out in a pink towel. "Yo, young Vongola." He greeted.

"Lambo-san, how did…" Tsuna began in disbelief.

"Ah, yare yare, it seems something happened and my younger self used the bazooka." The totally lax man explained as he entered the water. "Which is pretty good news for me."

"More over," Gokudera began as he too stepped into the baths, "where'd you get that towel?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Lambo asked coolly. "I've been wearing it since yesterday and waiting for you guys to go to the springs. I'm glad you finally did too. It's cold back home."

"Uh…huh." Tsuna begrudgingly responded. He pictured the adult Lambo walking down a busy street carrying his bath supplies in a bucket clad in only a towel. _Wouldn't that look a little weird? What's wrong with future Lambo!?_ He thought to himself with a black stare of disbelief.

"Wait, you said Lambo was fine?" Yamamoto asked in concern.

"Of course he is, he's right here." Lambo casually replied. Yamamoto looked curiously at this man, trying to remember who he was. Suddenly it came to him, like a bolt of lightning.

"Oh, right! You're from that Ring Tournament," Yamamoto began as he recollected all the events, "part of Lambo-chan's magic trick where he transformed. You must be…" Tsuna and Gokudera leaned in to see just what Yamamoto would say. "his older brother, right!?" Gokudera slapped his forehead and Tsuna sighed.

"Uh, sure. Anyway, Lambo's fine so just relax." Lambo said, splashing the water lightly. Yamamoto chuckled and walked into the spring.

"I got it!" Ryohei spontaneously yelled. "Underwater push-ups! Sawada-san, come sit on my back to weight me down so I don't float!" Tsuna furrowed his brow in surprise to the strange and seemingly murderous request.

"N-no, no I couldn't" Tsuna declined politely.

"C'mon, man! It'll be fine! And Kyoko won't know a thing!" Ryohei pleaded. Tsuna sighed, feeling a little guilty over letting Reborn take him to a near death yesterday and shuffled over as Ryohei took in a deep breath. Tsuna made sure his towel was properly afixed to his waist and hopped on Ryohei's back, keeping careful watch around where his face was to see if he was still breathing outwards occasionally.

"Heh. You guys are pretty funny." Yamamoto pointed as he chuckled.

"Don't let the idiot drown, boss." Gokudera warned half-heartedly as he lit up a damp cigarette (that came from nowhere).

"Yare yare, you guys need to relax more." Adult Lambo observed with closed eyes. Tsuna whimpered, as Ryohei pumped out the rapid-pace push-ups underwater. Hibari was enjoying his hot cacao at the other end of the spring and was busy ignoring the boys he was forced to share his bath with.

_Annoying herbivores,_ he thought to himself. _This bath is far to steamy to tell their idiotic faces apart anymore…_"Are you alright, sweety?" Bianchi asked a worrying Kyoko.

* * *

"I'm fine." She said happily. "I'm just trying to relax right now, but I can't help thinking about how my brother will manage to behave during the rest of the week."

"He seemed happy enough," Bianchi pointed out, "whe he was talking about finding bears to fight."

"That's what I'm worried about." Kyoko rebuttaled weakly.


	10. And So Concludes the Hot Spring Trip

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

"So, stupid cow-man," Gokudera started, "how long until you turn back into the stupid cow-midget?"

"Ouch, Gokudera-san," Lambo sarcastically, remembering the taunting he always had to put up with from his brother-in-arms. "Well, any minute now, I suppose. Just make sure to throw me back over to the girl's side so they don't go looking for me, okay?"

"Well, at least you're enjoying yourself, right Lambo-san?" Tsuna said with some relief. He was still being intermittently dipped in and out of the water from being Ryohei's added weight. Lambo nodded to Tsuna affirmitively, feeling as relaxed as he ever had. It was a good day for him indeed.

"BWUAH!" Ryohei gasped as he resurfaced. "That's 238…but I can do more! Sawada-san!" he yelled at the boy on his back. "Get me some bamboo so I can breathe longer." Tsuna nodded and looked around for some bamboo. There was some at the other end of the spring, where Hibari was. Tsuna grimaced as he thought of the repercussions of going into Hibari's reserved space.

_Well, I should anyway_ Tsuna reluctantly thought as he sloshed over quietly, _or Ryohei-onii-san will just come over himself…_ Tsuna was within reach of a stalk when Ryohei called him out.

"No, the other one! The longer one will work better!" Tsuna flinched and glanced over at Hibari, whose eyes were closed. Thankfully. Tsuna crept along as quietly as he could, trying his best not to make to many ripples and disturb the menace that would lead to everyone's death. Upon spotting an appropriately long piece of bamboo, Tsuna carefully and twitchingly reached out and grabbed it. He yanked at it relievedly, but it wouldn't budge.

Lambo looked down at his wrist, where a watch had apparently manifested out of nothingness, and calculated in his head. "Well," he started as he rose up, "I suppose I should go. If Lambo-chan comes in, just chuck him over the wall, okay?" Just before he left for good, Lambo turned around to face the boys one last time. "Oh, and Yamamoto-san, Lambo-chan really loves the high, super-hard slopes to ski on, so make sure you take him to one sometime." Yamamoto grinned and nodded, and Lambo left.

Then a small explosion was heard, and a wisp of pink smoke came from the changing room. Immediately after, the short, afro'd Lambo came running out in a towel.

"Guhaha! Lambo-san's gonna do a cannon- Guah!?" Gokudera had cut his announcement short by grabbing him in mid-air. "Hey, octopus! Let me go! Let me…lemme…" Lambo's rambunctiousness died down considerably as he saw Gokudera's dark glare.

"Hey girls!" Gokudera yelled. "We got Lambo! Ready to catch?" Lambo, Tsuna, and even Haru gasped in terror. "Here he COMES!" Gokudera stood up and pitched Lambo straight up over the wall. As Lambo came screaming down, his head banged into the side of the rock was and he tumbled the rest of the way down. Luckily for him, Haru was there ready to scoop him up.

* * *

"You jerk!" Haru yelled over the rocky wall at Gokudera. Lambo was already partially unconscious and mumbling from the future shock, paired with the sudden actions of Gokudera.

The girl's side was much more docile in activity. The girls were just enjoying their free hot spring by relaxing as much as possible without drowning. Bianchi was pleasantly leaning against the rock wall, ready to move out on her own instinctual command if her little, helpless brother would call out. Kyoko was busy watching over I-pin, and Chrome had taken up residence of the peculiarly misty far end of the pool.

As Kyoko held and scrubbed a calm I-pin, she couldn't help but think about yesterday. She regretted letting her brother get into such a dangerous situation so carelessly, but she still knew it wasn't his fault. Her mind was also tangled around the brief conversation she had with Chrome the other day, regarding Sawada and her. Every time she thought about it, her mind would get suspiciously occupied, however.

"Hahi!?" Haru suddenly screamed. "Lambo, what are you doing?" Haru asked as she sloshed through the water after Lambo, who was crawling on the rock wall like a spider.

"Nothin'" Lambo replied as he climbed higher still. Soon, he was at the top of the tower, just about in the middle of the wall, and Haru scrambled up to reach him without exposing herself. Lambo, in the mean time, was reaching through his afro for weapons to use on Gokudera in vengeance. He pulled out several weapons, including a recently fired bazooka, but nothing looked very promising. He settled at last on some grenades, but reached for the pins to find that they were already pulled out and stuck in his hair.

One loud explosion and crying Lambo later, Haru was back in the water and cradling him calmly. Chrome felt like interjecting on the situation, but she couldn't even see through her own mist. Once her foot had touched the steamy, warm baths she started emanating steam non-stop from every exposed surface of her body. Everyone assumed that this phenomenon was because of how hot the spring was, and Chrome just liked her baths hot.

"Chrome-chan?" Kyoko called, "are you alright? Do you need anything?"

"Uh…" Chrome nervously started, unknowing of what she could want in a bath, "no! I'm fine." She slumped down until her mouth went under the water and reached up to her head to undo her hair. She could only keep it the same as Mukuro's for so long until she had to wash it, of course. As she brushed her head with a warm washcloth, her mind swam back to her conversation with Mukuro yesterday.

* * *

_Well well,_ A familiar voice echoed in Chrome's head, _I didn't know you could cook, Nagi-chan._

_Not that well,_ Chrome mentally responded, _Just some things I learned…here and there-_

_Playing den mother to Ken and Chisuka, I suppose._

Chrome sighed, mentally and physically. _Yes._

_How are they doing?_

_Well, I suppose. They didn't want me to leave…or they didn't want you to leave._

_They can survive well enough without me._

_Well,_ Chrome began tentatively,_ unless they have to cook or do laundry. _

_Kufufufu_ Mukuro laughed. _They aren't really helpless…though we seem to bail them out of the most trouble._

_They really do miss you, Mukuro-sama._

…_Indeed…_ For a while, that was all Mukuro had to say. He didn't start talking again for quite a while, but Chrome could still feel him around her. She knew he felt troubled, but he wouldn't respond no matter what. It was this arrogance that Chrome had become attached to in the first place, and she knew it wouldn't help to pry the master of illusion for truth. Eventually, he did speak to her again. When he noticed Hibari Kyoya take his diner upstairs without a word.

_Follow him, Nagi-chan_ Mukuro said very suddenly as she was eating.

Chrome silently complied and got up while no one was looking.

_I need you to repeat after me, alright? And try not to hesitate._ Mukuro instructed. Chrome nodded and marched up the stairs. She opened the door to confront Hibari, then listened for Mukuro-sama's instruction.

_Is it good?_ Mukuro said.

"Is it good?" Chrome repeated plainly.

The rest of the conversation carried out to Mukuro's expectation.

Just remember to deny knowing me, Nagi-chan. I want to see what his motives are now that I'm out of his tunnel vision.

Finally, at the moment of truth, when Chrome divulged the falsity that Mukuro had concocted regarding Reborn, Habari's motives were revealed. Mukuro devised what information he could gather with Chrome's body to provoke Hibari. The only thing he had come back to, however was his own motive: Tsunayoshi Sawada. Reborn was connected to that young man, as was everyone else, not excluding Chrome.

Thank you for your help, Nagi-chan Mukuro said. I hope this wasn't to traumatic for you.

_No, Mukuro-sama. I'm fine. I'm just glad I could help you in my state--_

It was around that time that Tsuna knocked Chrome unconscious. Mukuro just stared on as his world as seen through her eyes went black and the troubled calls of his target-to-be rang out in the cool air.

"Well," Mukuro started in his imaginary world outside his own body, "it seems that she's in good hands for now. Kufufufufu…"

* * *

"Alright!" Ryohei yelled. "That was a good start, but now I need something else!" Tsuna grimaced to himself over being even more extra weight. Ryohei darted his head around and started moving through the water hastily.

"Maybe you should try and relax" Yamamoto politely suggested.

"Yeah, stupid lawn-head, calm down." Gokudera grunted.

"Can't you try and get along with him, Gokudera-kun?" Yamamoto asked.

"Yeah right," Gokudera responded. "An idiot like that'll only cause problems for us." As Gokudera said that, like a trained actor on an exact cue, a loud rumble was heard.

"Sasagawa-onii-san, stop!" Tsuna shouted. Ryohei paused from his current task of removing a large boulder from the rock wall. Ryohei blinked and put his hands down reluctantly.

"Yeah, okay…I should take some rocks from the top first, right?" Ryohei complied. Tsuna stopped himself from nodding and then approached Gokudera.

"Help me stop him, please!" Tsuna pleaded. Gokudera smirked deviously with his cigarette still smoldering in his mouth and stood up with two hands full of dynamite. Tsuna immediately regretted not asking Yamamoto as he stumbled back and scrambled his way out of the water.

"Roger, Boss!" Gokudera growled. The sticks lighted and Yamamoto caught the vibe that Tsuna had left on following after him. Gokudera took slight aim as Ryohei was nearing the top of the rock wall, not noticing how dangerously close to Hibari he was.

"Fly," Gokudera growled as the baths finished clearing, "Roaring Bomb!" He threw the dynamite at Ryohei, who was now jumping off the wall and into the water. The splash he made (right in front of Hibari) woke Hibari up in a very aggravated mood. Before Hibari could accurately measure whom he was going to kill, an explosion shook the entire spring.

The girls all screamed on their own side as the rubble started raining down. Chrome was nearest the explosion, and was temporarily too stunned to move as the rocks started bearing down on her. She stared at the widely, then started to move unconsciously. She was, somehow, able to catch up with the others as they into the changing room.

* * *

Outside, after everyone had changed back and nonchalantly started walking back to the cabin, the rest of the spring and its water started rolling down the hill and into the trees. Tsuna was wearing his hoodie up, and Ryohei had caught up before Hibari which gave him a lucky break. Everyone was just looking as innnocent as possible as all the staff vehicles rolled by, as well as a police cart or two.

"Let's move faster." Tsuna said in a hush to the group.

"Good idea." Reborn said from his shoulder. "Giddy-up. A good mob boss doesn't get caught in the act."

The group, minus Hibari ran off through the narrow paths. Hibari, on the other hand, was intent on enjoying his bath, and stayed behind in the now nearly empty spa to contemplate just how he was going to punish whoever was responsible. The police, sensing imminent danger, just worked around him.


	11. Now, With the Worst behind Us,

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

After an entire day of laying low and avoiding the law, the illustrious Vongola family and friends were ready to go running to the slops for their third day of vacation. Tsuna went with Yamamoto and Lambo to a moderate-level slope, hoping to learn better with a dive-in approach today. Gokudera was persuaded (by lots of yelling) to be Ryohei's escort and keep him out of extreme danger by Kyoko. Kyoko, Haru, Bianchi, Chrome and I-pin all went off to shop for food to make a great supper later on, and nobody knew where Hibari went, which was good.

At the top of a particular hill, one where you could see the people at the bottom no bigger than your thumb-nail, Tsuna readied himself to go yet again with his feet strapped tight to his board. He could tell at a glance that this wouldn't be pleasant for a while, but with Yamamoto's brimming confidence, he could catch on in time.

"Alright," quivered Tsuna as he pushed forward, "here goes nothing!" The tip of his board slid over the beginning of the slope and slapped down onto the snow as Tsuna started gliding down the mountain with gaining speed. He swerved back and forth occasionally to slow down, and otherwise was doing fine.

He smiled as he saw the grade of the slope start to even out and the bottom of the hill approaching. His third day out and he finally mastered not falling down. Then, as he glided gracefully across the even snow, he tripped on a bump and fell face first.

"Darn" Tsuna mumbled as he pushed himself up and coughed out some snow. "I thought that might happen."

"Heh" Yamamoto smirked. "He makes it look real easy. Okay little guy, you ready?" he said as he moved toward Lambo with open arms. Lambo, in turn, started backing away slowly. "Come on, Lambo-chan. It'll be fun." Yamamoto grinned. Lambo continued back and accidentally stepped on prepared ski that snapped him into place and started sliding on its own. Lambo's eyes went wide for a moment before he started careening down the slope.

"GYA-HAAAAAHHHHHH!!" screamed Lambo. He planted his other foot down and started impromptu boarding down the mountain with flailing arms. The wind blew hard against his afro and pushed his entire head backwards, lifting the tip of the ski off the snow. One sudden burst of wind and Lambo was toppled and stuck in the snow. Yamamoto hurridly shoved on his skis and attempted to race down to save the young kid.

"Hold on, Lambo-chan!" He yelled as he pushed off. "I'll save--" He pushed off too hard and dug his skis into the snow. His skis were now vertical and his face was planted firmly in the ground. Tsuna observed the embarrassed Yamamoto get up and start waddling down the slope form the chair lift and sighed.

"Oh well," Tsuna grieved. "At least he's learning…right?" Tsuna winced as Yamamoto tripped and tumbled down next to the now crying Lambo.

"Ah, don't worry kid" Yamamoto said as he patted his snowy afro. "I'm a lot worse than you. You actually made it pretty far down the hill, see?" Lambo looked up as Yamamoto pointed to the top of the slope, now much more distant than before. They had gone down at least half of the slope.

"Hey!" shouted Tsuna. He slid down slowly and stopped short of the two. "Are you okay?" Yamamoto chuckled as he picked Lambo up on his shoulders.

"Oh we're fine." Yamamoto said happily. "We just need to get our snow legs, I guess." Tsuna sighed a sigh of relief upon looking at his goofy friend. All the worries and stress of the Mafia seemed a distant lie to him now, and his life seemed normal. Just a normal young man enjoying a winter vacation with his friends. Then he was thrown back to reality by a sharp, persistent pain in his ear.

"Come on" Reborn chided as he held Tsuna's ear in his death grip. "You still need to learn to accelerate and decelerate properly."

"What does snowboarding have to do with Mob-boss training?" Tsuna whined. Reborn hit him and jumped off in time for Tsuna to go face-first through the snow and into the ground.

"It teaches you what to do and the proper time to do it. Balance, Position, Technique, Timing," as Reborn went on about the finer points of face-planting, Tsuna was already walking back up the hill with his board under arm. Reborn hopped back on his shoulder and rode him back up to try again without falling.

* * *

Gokudera and Ryohei had been doing the same thing for nearly a solid hour: glaring and scowling at each other while walking along normally. Gokudera hunched himself slightly and put much more squint into his glare, whereas Ryohei was scowling much heavier and had one eyebrow cocked. To avoid and deadly obstacles and without provoking Ryohei, Gokudera was willingly leading the extreme young man around in endless circles.

"So," Ryohei growled, "what're we doing together, smoky?" Gokudera grunted and bared his teeth. He straightened up and took a reach for his cigarettes while keeping his eyes fixed. Ryohei'' eyebrows furrowed intensely as Gokudera put the stick in his mouth and moved his hand up to light it. Ryohei knocked the lighter to the ground with a swift slap and started growling. Gokudera reached into his pockets and was about to pull out two hands full of dynamite, but his mind flashed back to what Kyoko had told him.

_"I'm trusting you, Gokudera-san. Please keep Onii-san out of trouble or, or Chrome and I will refuse to feed you tonight. I'm sorry, but I know you can do it!"_

_Curse that girl's smile_ Gokudera growled internally. He stowed his cigarette and feigned a smile at the lawn-head. His mouth twitched and his brows furrowed at the attempt. "Well, how about we go to the lake and try skating, or something?" Ryohei looked curiously at his smiling compatriot and looked away for a second.

"Yeah," Ryohei responded, scratching an imaginary itch on his cheek. "That could be fun, I suppose…" Ryohei wasn't really thinking about it that much. He was mainly focusing on the lecture he had gotten from his sister and Haru yesterday after the hot spring incident.

_"Please don't do anything dangerous Onii-san. You've already gone temporarily deaf and nearly froze, now you could've drowned!"_

"_Yeah! You can't expect all of us to come and rescue you or make it all better all the time! Be more careful, for everyone's sake!"_

_That went on for hours_ Ryohei remembered painfully. Everyone had a turn to chide him on about his recklessness and he had had more than enough of it after only the first time. _I'll do anything to prevent that, even if I have to hang with Ovtopus-boy for the rest of the day._

"Sure!" Ryohei finally answered with an equally awkward smile as Gokudera's. "Let's go skating!" They both smiled their disgusting smiles at each other and stopped walking. They looked around each other at the snow-covered ground and the towering trees…and nothing else.

"Octopus-HEAD!!" Ryohei screamed to the heavens. "You got us lost, you jerk!"

"Me?" Gokudera seethed. "ME!? YOU were the one walking around without looking! Without any destination! We're lost because of you!" They faced off and snarled. Long after they were both done snarling, the snarling of something else continued for them. Gokudera and Ryohei turned cautiously in the direction of the noise and caught sight of a bear. Gokudera's mouth dropped down and his eyes went white, while Ryohei smiled and started wrapping his hands.

"C'mon!" Ryohei taunted with a curious seriousness as he started charging the bear. Gokudera's mind went blank for a second as the boy started jabbing at the bear, then the yelling and the threat of having his sister's cooking for supper caught up to him. He quickly lit his cigarette and the fuses of several bombs at once to help the stupid boxer.

* * *

Mario, the resort manager, walked down the hallway of the main office. He straightened some portraits and shuffled about with some plant holders to keep order in the hall and went through his marked door to his office. He walked around to sit at his desk and type at his computer, summarizing the week's assets and losses (mainly the hot-spring thing) when he remembered something and got up. The door was still ajar. He went to close it again and locked it, then sighed.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely yet tiredly. Against the opposite wall leaned a terrifying young man in a formal jacket with metal tonfas in his crossed arms.

"Yes." Hibari said as he started forward. "You're going to tell me all about that little baby you seem to be so familiar with or," he stopped walking in the middle of the circular pattern rug and flexed up his arm to reflect his victim in the tonfa's metal. "I'll bite you to death." Hibari gave the man an icy glare as the man turned and smiled back through his glasses.


	12. We Get to the Truley Terrible

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

"Reborn-san," Mario started with a sinister disdain. "Yes, I do know him. He's an old associate of mine." Hibari continued his approach until Mario started moving off to the side. Now the two were strafing each other down around the room.

"To what end is he controlling this resort?" Hibari probed.

"How could you tell?" Mario asked, clearly interested with the young man.

"I'm no fool" Hibari said threateningly. Mario reached behind his back and pressed a button concealed by a small placard on the bookshelf. Hibari made a flying dash forward with his jacket draped over him, flowing behind like a cape. The oval rug in the center of the room disappeared right under Hibari and his body went into freefall.

"Really?" Mario said jokingly. He went back to press the button again, but his finger didn't meet it. His index finger had been bent sideways, completely broken. He looked down and raised his eyebrows.

"Wao" whispered a voice behind him. Mario turned and faced the wide-eyed, berserk face of Hibari as he swung his powerful arm. The metal connected painfully with Mario's face and sent him flying through the bookcase and into a dank secret hallway. Mario's body twitched slightly on the cold stone floor as the killer closed in. Mario got back up as if nothing happened and turned around with a slacked jaw and a smile.

"How didn't you fall?" Mario asked. Hibari raised a tonfa in threat as he stalked forward.

"Fall where?" he hissed. "There was no hole." He stopped short of Mario's reach and glared. "I've fought a master of Illusions. Don't try me, weakling." Mario smiled and snapped his jaw back into place. Then Hibari knocked it back out of place and sent him flying with a trail of blood following after from his nose.

"You're quite durable, aren't you?" Hibari said in mock-amazement as Mario rose back up and smiled through his apparently fractured face. Mario wiped away the blood and smeared a deep red across his forehead in the process.

"It's one of my many hidden talents" he gloated with a crazy smile and swollen-shut eye. Hibari drew up his arm and charged again with his murderous aura and steely glare.

* * *

The girls all arrived back at the cabin in tandem, carrying bags of groceries from the local shop. All the food they would need for the rest of the week was purchased on behalf of Bianchi's generosity. That, and she had made the demand of being the head chef for all the meals without complaint, and there were none (as none of the girls ever ate her cooking before).

"Alright, girls," Bianchi started as she set down a bag of food on the counter, "wash up while I finish putting these groceries away, and we'll get started cooking lunch." Kyoko, Haru, Chrome and I-pin all gave their shouts of approval and rushed off to the nearest sink.

"So Chrome-chan" Jaur started. "How do you know the boys?"

"Through Tsuna-san" she relpied casually.

"And how do you know Tsuna-san?" Haru questioned jealously.

"Through…another friend" Chrome replied with a smile.

"Why the sudden questions, Haru-san?" Kyoko asked. Haru resumed her carefree, happy attitude and replied in her bubbly voice.

"Oh, just curious." Chrome sighed silently for having to keep her tongue in her cheek for so long. The anxiousness she had from having to lie constantly about herself to her friends about Mukuro was excruciating.

_Oh, why is the truth so hard to hide?_ Chrome demanded to herself. She already knew Mukuro was gone for the day, attending to other matters off in his own ethereal world, but it was still a question that she needed to ask. _Most everyone already knows. I understand why Hibari-san can't find out, but these girls are incidental to the Mafia. Plus, It feels bad to lie to my--_

Chrome neglected her surroundings once again and ran headfirst into the frame of the door she was trying to go through. She fell to the floor with dazed eyes and twitching fingers.

"Bianchi-san!" Kyoko yelled. "Chrome-chan banged her head on the wall!"

"Oh no!" Bianchi responded. "Bring her in here. I'll cook her something to take her mind off the pain…" Chrome could hear the clattering of pans and her feet being dragged across the floor, but everything was in a dizzying, spinning blur. "Here you go," Bianchi said at length. She brought over a steaming bowl of soup to Chrome. One sniff rearranged Chrome's eyesight into total darkness, as the toxic aroma knocked her out. Bianchi stared at her for a moment before moving away with her dish.

"I suppose she just needs to rest now" the woman said as she tasted her horrid bowl of moving goo. "Let's get her on the couch." Kyoko nodded and helped Bianchi carry the poor girl out into the sitting room.

"Wow" Haru said. "That's the second time that she's been hurt and forced onto the couch this week, right?"

Kyoko grunted as she laid her friend across the long couch and put a blanket over her. "Let's just hope it stays at two…" she joked lightly.

* * *

"Left HOOK!" Ryohei shouted as he threw what he said. Right into the bear's face, sending it yet again into a nearby tree. "Right UPPERCUT!" Again, this time knocking the bear clean off the ground and into an overhead branch. Like militant zombies, these bears just kept getting back up and wiping away their spit. Ryohei was exhilarated with fighting spirit, as he was fighting bears that knew how to box!

"Soft Bomb!" Gokudera shouted. He threw a small, ball-shaped bomb with a lit fuse that exploded on contact with his furry target, knocking it backwards. All the bears were keeping their distance from Gokudera but were still trying to rush him occasionally. "Hot Bomb!" Another smaller bomb, this time spraying a red mist upon detonation that forced painful screams from the bears. It was a solution of dog-repellant and mace that sank into the ground at length.

"Quit throwing bombs around, Octo-hair!" Ryohei shouted as he punched another bear's torso into a concave shell. "You'll cause an avalanche!" Gokudera ignored him at first, then threw another small bomb in his direction. Ryohei dodged it, allowing it to explode in a red mist that incapacitated the bear it hit.

_Stupid Lawn-head!_ Gokudera thought as he continued his volley. _Like I'd use my good stuff here!_ Gokudera remembered back to when he had decided to pack for this trip. In the event of some kind of Mafia-related trouble, dynamite on a snow-covered mountain resort was asking for badness. Instead of traditional, raw explosive power, he made a huge amount of miscellaneous bombs out of various chemicals and low amounts of gunpowder. Pepper-spray, sleeping-potion, his sister's cooking; all types of new and interesting bombs were tucked away in place of his dynamite and most of his cigarettes.

_I miss the huge booms already_ Gokudera thought angrily. Although he did this with his bosses' best interest and safety, it was still boring him to death. At length through the fight with the relentless bears, Gokudera pulled out a very small bomb with a long fuse that he held between two fingers.

"Ryohei!" Gkoudera called. The boxer-boy darted his head around for a moment to see Gokudera carefully plant and light the bomb's fuse, leaving his cigarette behind. "WE gotta' get out of here!" With that, Gokudera took off in a dash through the opening of tired and KO'd bears. Ryohei grunted and turned around. Reinforcements had arrived. Reluctantly, and with heavy anger in tow, he followed suite of his friend. The fuse of the tiny bomb burned ever closer to the tiny stick.

"Oi, Octopus!" Ryohei shouted as he caught up with the still retreating Gokudera. "Why are we running? We both could've messed those bears up for life!"

"Because," Gokudera started, "you stupid jock-itch, I planted a bomb that'll take care of them for us!" Ryohei felt like taking a swing at Gokudera, but a sinking feeling stopped him. The ground started to rumble and the air started to beat a huge bass sound. Both stopped dead and stared back. A bright flash of light followed by a thunderous boom, which repeated several times. A short silence followed afterwards.

"What was that!?" Ryohei shouted over to Gokudera who was removing earplugs.

"Fireworks" Gokudera coolly replied. "Flash powder and nitroglycerine. Lots of Flash powder. Makes a huge boom and lots of light. Although, that was a really small one compared to what you see around new years…" Gokudera looked over to see if anything he was saying was sinking, only to see the boy cleaning out his ears.

"I'm sorry, what?" Ryohei said quietly. "My ears are ringing…" Gokudera went pale-faced and slapped his head, then dragged his hand down his face angrily.

_Great…_ Gokudera thought as he stomped away. _Now I've got to explain myself for this idiot!_ Ryohei hopped along to catch up and steer his companion away, as the smoke from the resort buildings was now in plain sight over the small hill.

Back in the woods, the bears were all either still shell-shocked or wandering around in a daze until they bumped into something. None of them had any intent on pursuing those two vicious criminals to their kind, as none of them wanted to get beaten again that badly anytime soon…


	13. With NO Surprises, We Wrap Up the Day

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

At a great length, the day was finally in its closing hours. The sun was setting, the shops were redoubling their efforts to cook for the dinner crowd, and the lively couples were out doing things together without interruption. The last part mainly ruined it for Tsuna, so he had decided to pack up and head in for the day. Without Kyoko around, he couldn't be associated with her by wonderful mistake.

Yamamoto and Lambo stayed behind to continue trying to find their respective balances with Reborn so they wouldn't fall so much. All the young women thought it was an adorable sight for such a nice young man to teach two little kids and act like he was as bad as them, although the case was completely opposite. Lambo actually was a talented skier once he got used to his skis, and Yamamoto still couldn't stand properly at all.

"I think I got this now!" Yamamoto said as he wobbled hap-hazardously on his board as he crawled down the slope. Lambo was wiggling his own way down as well, with his arms out to the sides. Even going as slow as he was, his afro was picking up a lot of wind resistance and sent him zigzagging around randomly, much to Yamamoto's amusement.

"Keep your feet steady," Reborn instructed as he skied backwards to keep an eye on the boy. "Don't space your knees out to far and use your arms for balance." Yamamoto fumbled to follow everything at once and started careening dangerously close to the border of trees. "Don't hit the trees to stop!" Reborn shouted. Yamamoto wasn't able to follow that advice to the letter, however, and bounced off a tree and over his feet straight into a snowdrift.

Reborn hit a hand to his forehead in embarrassment, but shook it off once Yamamoto was up and trying again. Lambo sped on past Reborn with a goofy, mocking face, which Reborn initially ignored. As Lambo laughed and shook his rear at the infant hitman, he failed to see the bump in the path as he sped on down and was soon airborne and screaming. Yamamoto caught sight of the young Lambo twirling through the air dangerously and laughed innocently.

"He's really good!" Yamamoto said to himself. "His older brother wasn't kidding when he said he was a pro!" Then Lambo landed, on his face…into a tree. Yamamoto stayed still for a moment, thinking it was all still just part of the trick he was doing, until he heard crying. Like the switch in his brain that turns on his 'killer baseball' mode, Yamamoto disregarded all limitations and dashed across the snow effortlessly over to Lambo and jumped off his board. He scooped the young kid up in his arms.

"GUAAAHHHH!" Lambo cried with a trail of blood on his face. "I hit my face! Stupid tree!" Yamamoto winced and looked around in a hurry. He set Lambo down carefully as he wailed in pain and ripped off his own coat sleeve. Lambo calmed down as he watched the tall, kind man tear apart his coat to make a mock-bandage for the wounded child.

"Don't worry, buddy" Yamamoto said in a soothing way. "I'll wrap you up quick and we can get back to the house so you can rest, okay?" Lambo sat still as Yamamoto very carefully wrapped the bandage around his face. When he was done, he smiled very nicely and Lambo nodded slowly. So, with Lambo in his arms, Yamamoto marched down the hill towards the cabin. Reborn watched the entire thing very analytically.

_For a natural born assassin _Reborn remarked internally, _He certainly is good with children. I never was…but it seems his potential lies within the necessity to help others, much like Tsuna. If I can find a way to properly motivate him as I have with Tsuna, this family will have a truly powerful foundation._ From the forest behind him, a huge clamor arose. Gokudera and Ryohei were marching angrily back into civilization when they both stopped upon noticing the young hitman. "Ciaossu" Reborn greeted.

"Reborn-san" Gokudera remarked. "We must really be home."

"Told you, moron!" Ryohei spat. "I knew where I was going!" Ryohei strutted onward arrogantly with his arms crossed and a happy smile plastered on his face, leaving Gokudera to fume with his shoulders slumped and face long. Reborn took the moment to hop up and his shoulder.

"Long day?" Reborn joked. Gokudera glanced over and straightened up to continue forward.

"I got us lost," he started explaining, "and he won't let me just live it down…it wasn't even my fault, really." Reborn just nodded as Gokudera talked on about how bad the day had been to him while they both went back home for the night.

* * *

For once, dinner seems to go well for everyone. The food that Bianchi cooked was stealthily avoided by everyone competent enough to do so, and everything else was deliscious enough for everyone to completely devour. What's more, the ominous atmosphere that had been present the previous days was gone, as Hibari had been absent the whole evening. As worrying that was for Tsuna, no one else seemed to mind.

"So," Ryohei started with a pleasant sigh, "what's for desert?" Everyone had a smiled on their faces from the meal and was eager to hear the answer to that question.

"Well," Bianchi began, "I originally made some rice pudding we could all share, but it disappeared…" Thanks to Gokudera and Tsuna, who had the tenacity to sneak into the kitchen during the meal and toss the bubbling death-ooze out the window. It instantly melted the snow it came into contact with and blackened the grass it touched, prompting them to sigh with relief.

"I made some" Chrome said, "Rice Pudding, that is. I tried to follow Bianchi-san's recipe as she cooked, but I may have left something out." Chrome held her hand to her face bashfully and Bianchi looked over at her.

"As long as you cooked it with love it can't be bad" Bianchi remarked. Gokudera shook his head slowly as Kyoko and Haru went to the kitchen to retrieve it. Tsuna elbowed Gokudera under the table and leaned in to him.

"Did we get rid of the right one?" Tsuna whispered. Gokudera's eyes went white.

"I hope so, boss" he responded. "I enjoy living far too much to even look at my sister's cooking. But don't worry. If it starts moving we can just pass it over to Lawn-head or Yamamoto." Gokudera smirked mischievously and straightened up while Tsuna looked terrified and slunk back over limply. The girls brought back an innocent looking large bowl of rice pudding. Neither the sight nor smell had knocked Gokudera out yet, so Tsuna assumed it was safe.

"Please," Chrome said sweetly, "everyone help yourselves." Everyone took a small bowl full with the cautious exception of Gokudera and started eating. Gokudera watched everyone carefully for any signs of sickness or pain, but saw nothing. Even Tsuna was smiling as he ate it.

"This is great, Chrome-chan" Yamamoto praised.

"You really are a good cook, Chrome-chan" Kyoko admitted.

Each praise she received made her even more shy and forced her to look downward. Gokudera smiled and decided that his cowardice had run to its limit and went to take a bite. As he did, the door blew open and a cool breeze rushed in.

"What is it?" Tsuna shouted as he turned around. In the doorway was a desperate looking man with a look of death on his face…

* * *

Hibari rushed to close in on his retreating prey. Mario was running down an ever more Gothic looking staircase that seemed to go on forever into more and more hallways lit by torches. The rusticness of the overly complicated underground structure was daunting to Hibari, but he didn't care about sightseeing enough to loose his concentration on killing his victim.

_What I don't understand_ Hibari thought as he sprinted down the hallway, _is how this man is still alive._ Hibari's swings hadn't been lax at all since he started fighting, and yet this man had gotten up to continue running away all the same. _Is it maybe possible that…_

All of a sudden, Hibari was in a huge room. An immense, spacious, circular stone tiled and walled room. The gray stone was illuminated through many stained glass windows that, no matter what color, shone brightly white. The sweat on Hibari's brow glistened in the light as he looked across the entirety of the room to se his opponent, perfectly fine and without even a cut.

"Well, you've followed me this far…" Mario said from across the hall. "…How much longer can you last here?" Mario pulled a small remote control from his pocket and held it up to his face. With the push of a button, the entire structure started to rumble. Hibari started sprinting forward at the first quake with the stone floor disappearing quickly after him. Stones shot up to block him but he quickly smashed them to dust.

His footing was lessening by the second. Stones from the walls, the floor, the ceiling, from all over came flying at him. The windows shattered and the shrapnel rushed violently toward him. The room itself was attacking, and Hibari was holding it back easily. Mario stood and smiled as Hibari came ever closer with his tonfa swinging. With only a foot's difference between the men, Hibari plummeted into an endless black below while Mario stared down menacingly from the only remaining stone floating in the air…


	14. This Day has Gone on for Too Long

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

Mario sat with an evil grin at his desk, glaring at the comatose young man in the chair opposite him. Hibari's head was hanging down with open, shocked eyes and a gaping mouth. Mario's illusion had indeed felled the young man, as it had started since Hibari entered the room. Mario's pride swelled up as he kept on his concentration to ultimately seal the young man in the illusion world forever. Then, his phone rang. He glanced at it and quickly pressed the speaker button.

"This is Mario" he greeted on the line.

"Hello sir," said a nervous, feminine voice. "You have a call from one of the guests. He says it's an emergency."

"I'm sure it is…" Mario said. "Patch him through, then."

"Yes sir" she replied. It had been somewhat the same since the hot spring was obliterated yesterday, people calling in every half-hour or so it seemed regarding the damage that had been done. Mario had fielded dozens of similar complaints, and a few seconds of paperwork wouldn't detract him from his main duty at the moment, that being to keep this berserk youth from tearing his office asunder.

The phone beeped and the caller was connected. "Hello," Mario said cordially. "I am the resort manager, Mario. How may I help you today?"

"Ciaossu" greeted the caller likewise in a painfully familiar voice. Mario's eyes shot wide open and he stood up in disbelief. "I lost one of my cabin-mates. If you find him, please ask him to come back as we're worried about him. His name is…" Mario turned very slowly across his desk. The young man was already bearing his metal tonfas, ready to strike, and leaping over the desk.

"…Hibari Kyoya. Thank you." The receiver clicked and the call ended. Hibari stood victoriously over the incapacitated body of the illusionist, having just readjusted his jaw significantly to the right. Hibari sheathed his tonfas again and started out the door.

"It's nothing personal…" he began as he left. "…I just despise your kind." With his explanation hanging in the air, he shut the door and began off to his own cabin again. Having found no information in an outside source, he decided to inquire with an immediate party instead.

* * *

Back at the lodge, the Vongola had greeted their new guest with a warm blanket and a hot cup of cocoa.

"Thank you," the blonde man said, taking the cup and sipping from it.

"How'd you even get here, Dino-san?" Tsuna asked.

"Well," Dino started, "I decided to take a vacation up here because things were going so well back at home. The calm Japanese mountains seemed more appealing to me than the steep Italian Alps…" Everyone was listening intently to his well, crafted story. "So, this morning I was out with my men skiing…when all of a sudden…" there was a long pause from Dino's serious tone. When he started again, his voice regressed back to the panic he knew earlier. "…I lost sight of them. And then, out of nowhere, all these bears started chasing me!"

_HOW DO YOU MESS UP SO BAD YOU GET BEARS!!_ Tsuna internally shouted. Gokudera and Ryohei stared narrowly at each other.

"b…bears, eh?" Gokudera stuttered, feigning perfect innocence.

"Weird!" Ryohei agreed.

"I know how it sounds," Dino admitted shamefully, "but now I can't find my men either. If it's alright with you, I'd like to stay here for the night. No telling how far those bears followed me from the woods…" Dino glanced warily at the door, silently hoping that there wasn't anything out there.

"Well," Reborn started, "that's all up to Tsuna. It's his cabin, after all."

"What?" Tsuna exclaimed. "Since when?"

"Well, Tsuna-san?" Dino said giving his best piteous look, which still glistened with a thick air of coolness.

"Of course it's alright with me" Tsuna said. "You can stay with us for now. We're here for the rest of the week anyway."

"That's great" Dino said. "Thanks, Tsuna." Dino picked up his cup and went for a drink, but smacked the rim against his cheekbone instead, pouring hot chocolate on his face. "AHH-HAAH! This stuff's hot!"

_Besides, if you go outside without your men you'll probably get hit by a comet…_ Tsuna thought. He rushed off into the kitchen and brought back a towel for Dino, still moping over his misfortune.

"Well, it's good to have you here, Dino" Bianchi said, watching the frazzled man wipe his already wet clothes with the towel.

"Psst" someone hushed from the stairwell. Tsuna's ears picked up on it and he turned slightly to see. A hand was beckoning him over quickly. Tsuna glanced at the group, then back over at the stairs and silently slunk away. No one noticed him go initially, as everyone's concentration was placed on Dino, but at length, someone did seem to notice his absence.

* * *

Tsuna walked through the door to the balcony and into the cool night air. A light snow was falling and powdering the chairs and tables not under the covering from the roof. He looked around for whomever it was that called him, but saw no one. He went to go back downstairs when the door shut by itself.

"Eh…" Tsuna cowered. "Hello?" he heard the light steps of someone from behind, but was too paralyzed to effectively engage them. Slowly, and haltingly, he turned his head while trying not to really look. He saw a reaching hand, a spiked head, and a terrifying skull. Tsuna wheezed with terror and fell over onto the balcony floor.

"Boss!" Chrome called out. She rushed over and knelt down to pick up Tsuna's head. "Are you alright? You look startled." Tsuna struggled to form the words after just barely dodging a serious heart attack.

"I'm fine" he shakily said. "You kind of took me by surprise, though…"

"Oh, I'm sorry" Chrome apologized. "I wanted to talk to you, but I was afraid to approach you since that new man is here. I didn't think he'd trust you and I to talk alone…"

"You mean, Dino-san?" Tsuna questioned. Chrome nodded and Tsuna picked himself up to brush off the snow on his butt. "He's a friend of mine, and a former student of Reborn-san. If you told him you were in our family, he'd definitely trust you…" _What am I saying!?_ Tsuna thought with an honest, bashful face. _I actually sound like a mobster!_

"Well, that's good.." Chrome replied shyly. "Anyway, I should start talking before we're discovered."

"Eh?" Tsuna whimpered. What could Chrome want to talk about that required total privacy? Or perhaps, this was Mukuro making his lethal move on Tsuna using Chrome as an in-between? Tsuna was ready to start running at the first sign of definite trouble, when Chrome started her side of the conversation.

"Do you like Kyoko-san?" she asked innocently. Tsuna stopped breathing for a few moments. His face went from just normal, fear-shock pale to deep blue embarrassment.

"Eh?" he wheezed finally.

"Kyoko-san had a similar response to that question," Chrome said. "So, you two must think the same thing. Do you boss?" Tsuna tried to back away, and he felt for the door behind him but could only find wooden tiles. He turned around and yelped to see that the door was gone, as was the window, and the roof. The entire landscape had been apparently altered by use of some rather obvious force.

"I'm concerned for both of you," Chrome said calmly as the walls kept erupting out of nowhere and boxed them both in. Tsuna stayed tight against the imaginary wall as he could while she kept on closing in. "If you don't admit your feeling's, you'll end up very sad with yourselves. I know…" Tsuna calmed down and edged off of the wall a little. "…I have to keep my feelings hidden from even myself sometimes…" A small tear rolled down her cheek.

"Well," Tsuna started now feeling guilty. "I do like her…" Chrome looked up, and the walls started to sink back into the ground. Tsuna kept rubbing the back of his neck.

"How much?" Chrome blurted, nearly jumping at him. Her illusion was broken, and Tsuna's head hit at the door from his bending spontaneously at the knees in surprise.

"Well," he started very shyly, "a lot. But, she doesn't think the same way…" Chrome backed off and put a finger to her lips. She tilted her head back and forth very casually and hummed quietly to herself. Tsuna was about to say something, but Chrome turned around very suddenly with a shining smile on her face.

"Got it, boss!" she cheered. Tsuna shielded his eyes.

"Ah!" Tsuna screamed. "I've never seen Chrome-chan so bright before! IT HURTS!" Chrome started pushing the boy along and back into the house.

"I won't tell anybody" Chrome said in a horrifically bubbly way. Both went down the stairs and around the corner over to her room. "I'll just let myself to bed. Good night, boss!" she nearly sang as she shut her door and blew a quick kiss. Tsuna was left in total shock.

_What the heck just happened?_ He questioned. Then, a realization and logical explanaition came to him. He pounded his fist into his hand and his face returned to a neutral, good-hearted emotion again. _It must have __**all**__ been an illusion! Chrome just wanted to mess with me like everyone else has been doing, like friends, and try to get me going. Man, I didn't know she had it in her to do something like that._ Tsuna laughed at himself and started off to the other set of stairs back into the sitting room.

"Phew!" Chrome sighed as she plopped herself down on the bed. "I've never acted so cheery before. I wonder if he saw through me…oh well." Chrome got back up and walked over to her stark suitcase with her only sleeping attire and started to undress. "I'll make more definite plans for the boss and Kyoko tomorrow."

* * *

And so, the day came to a close with Dino visiting and sleeping in the room with Tsuna and Reborn. Tsuna shrugged the bizarre event with Chrome off as a hallucination/illusion…one or the other was fine with him. Everyone was glad to have another tenant in the house, if at least for a day or so, and the night was peaceful for once. Then, in the darkest hour, a clatter arose from the balcony that was quickly stayed. Down the deck quietly marched a mysterious figure, clutching wet and ragged cloth in hand and a gleaming shine from his eyes. Silently, Hibari crept back into the hall and into his room, discarding his bloodied and battle-tattered clothes away and falling face first onto his bed.

His day was bad, let's leave it at that…


	15. Once Again, the Snowball Hell Begins

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

Everyone was already downstairs early the next morning, except Hibari. That said, it was a well enough and peaceful morning. Dino had made everyone a home recipe of oatmeal that was enjoyed deeply all around. Most everyone was already on their seconds and Ryohei on thirds by the time Hibari shambled his way downstairs. He carried with him a bundle of clothes, hiding the blood under the folds.

"Morning, Kyoya-san" Dino greeted from the couch. Hibari ignored him and floated over to the fire. He stared at the crackling flames for a second, then threw his clothes into the fire spontaneously.

"Good morning, everyone" he said very politely. Tsuna stared wide-eyed and mouth agape at the bizarre scene. Dino got up, took off his expensive looking winter coat and stood beside Hibari at the fire.

"That's a strange ritual you guys have here" Dino said. He threw his coat into the fire anyway, and finished with "Good morning!" Hibari glanced curiously at him, then started back into the kitchen to retrieve some breakfast for himself.

"Oh, are we all doing it now?" Ryohei asked. He shot up, took off his scarf and repeated "Good morning!" with pronounced excitement. Gokudera looked on with amusement and scoffed, until he saw Yamamoto get up and try it as well.

"Good morning!" Yamamoto cheered as his article burned in the fire. Ryohei wrapped his arm around him and gave him a friendly shake and shout. Gokudera, not wanting to let his rival best him in a newly developing Vongola tradition, got up and struggled to get his coat off. After a few seconds of grunting and tugging, his jacket was in the fire.

"Morning" he happily said, with a victorious shine on his face. Tsuna watched the whole affair like he was watching some kind of train wreck. Hibari passed through the room and mumbled a quick insult to the bunch as he left to eat in solitude.

_What the heck!?_ Blared Tsuna to himself. _Has everyone in this Mafia gone completely crazy? Eh? EVEN CHROME!?_

"Good morning" the dainty girl said as she tossed her own contribution into the fire.

"Yeah! My turn!" Lambo shouted, streaking over to the fireplace naked with his one-piece cow suit twirling in hand. "Gooooood Mor…" before he could actually burn his only good piece of laundry, Gokudera stopped him with his foot and Haru swept down to redress him and take him in arms.

"No, Lambo" Haru scolded, "just something small, like a mitten or scarf."

"Oh, small?" Gokudera repeated worriedly. He glanced back down into the fire and watched in shock as his more than expensive jacket burned to cinders. "…d…dammit." He cursed as he slunk down to his knees and grimaced. Haru and Lambo both threw in the same mitten together and greeted the day.

"They're…all crazy" Tsuna said in disbelief. He felt a tug at his shoulder, and looked over expecting Reborn. "K-Kyoko-chan?"

"Come on, Tsuna" she encouraged with a woolen hat already in hand. "It's a fun way to start the day." Her sweet, innocent smile mixed up Tsuna's heart. He was already happily stumbling after her, but the embarrassment and perfect waste of everyone's clothes made him confused as to exactly how to perceive this event.

"This certainly is a first" Reborn commented as he threw in a pair of tiny mittens from Ryohei's shoulder. "I don't believe any Mafia family has ever used their winter wear as firewood unless they were about to die."

"Let's go together, Tsuna-kun" Kyoko said. Tsuna smiled and nodded. The both took their respective hats and held them in hand. "One, two three!" and on three their hats were sent into the already roaring, smoky fire with everyone else's ashen debris.

"Good morning!" Tsuna and Kyoko both shouted in unison. Upon arriving back downstairs, Hibari glanced over at the happy cheering mess of people and softly commented to himself

"Idiots"

* * *

"Oh, Dino-sama, thank goodness you're okay!" Romario said excitedly. The rest of the Chiavorone subbordinates that Dino brought with him had gotten a call earlier that morning about Dino from Reborn, and they had finally come with a stretcher ready (just in case he had been away to long).

"Of course I am" Dino replied. "I was in the distinct care of our Vongola friends. What was there to worry about?" Dino heard Romario stifle a laugh.

"Of course ,sir" he formally replied.

"I heard that, you know" Dino lowed.

"So, what are our plans for today, sir?" Romario asked. Dino put a hand to his chin and thought to the sky for a minute. "Well, that depends." He turned to Tsuna, who was nearby to greet the others. "Tsuna-kun, what will we be doing today?" Tsuna jumped in surprise.

"Eh? Me?" he stuttered baffledly.

"Well, since we're here together we may as well enjoy each other's company right?" Dino said persuasively. Tsuna wanted to say something, but that overwhelming charm got the best of him and he hung his head in thought.

"Uh, well, we usually just do things spontaneously" Tsuna explained. "I can't say what we'll do today…" Suddenly, his head became heavy as Reborn had hopped upon it and forced him to stare at the ground a little while longer.

"Why not have a friendly Family competition?" Reborn suggested.

"Leave it to Reborn-sama to come up with a great idea out of nowhere!" Dino remarked. Tsuna raised his head back up as Reborn settled on his shoulder. "How about a snowball fight?" Dino's innocent suggestion sparked off the memories Tsuna had repressed of the last time they had a snowball fight. "I even rented my own side of the hill, so we can have a sloped battle without anyone interfereing."

"That's pretty amazing" Gokudera remarked, being near enough to hear the plans. "What'ya say, boss?" Tsuna was about to mutter begrudgingly when Gokudera zoomed over and leaned in close to the ear opposite Reborn. "We have superior force to outmatch their numbers. You, me, Yamamoto, Ryohei. Hibari and Chrome are enough. We can even use Chrome's illusions to outflank them and cover them in snow!" After he was done, Tsuna mulled it over seriously.

"Well, if we keep the destruction to a minimum it would be fun" he finally mumbled out. Dino slapped him affirmatively on the back and smiled.

"We'll prepare the hillside immediately, sir" Romario said.

"Right, I'll come along" Dino replied, walking after his men. "See you soon, Tsuna!" he shouted as his cart full of Mafioso departed. Tsuna, Reborn and Gokudera waved after him until the cart was out of sight, then they marched back inside. Gokudera was beaming, but Tsuna not so much.

"I hope it isn't as bad as last time" Tsuna mourned.

"Cheer up" Reborn ordered. "If it's just Dino versus us than of course we'll win. We just have to utilize our strengths accordingly."

"Huh? You mean Chrome's illusions?" Tsuna guessed. Reborn nodded as Tsuna looked across the room. All the girls were together, chatting and conversing about who knows what. Tsuna's eyes drifted over and fixed on Kyoko, of course, and he just hoped that he could be on her team again.

"Wait, what about the girls and kids?" Tsuna asked with mild concern. "Dino-san won't show us any mercy just because we have girls on our team."

"No," Reborn mused, "he's no coward. Then again, neither are our girls, per say." Tsuna blinked at him and thought about it. Haru was brave enough when defending the children, Chrome was the alter-ego of Mukuro, and Kyoko was related to Ryohei, even if she didn't show it. Bianchi was, of course, a sure thing with her 'specialty' snowballs. Tsuna's face went back from a wayward paranoia to a cautious optimism instantly.

"Hey, everyone!" Tsuna announced. "Dino-san has invited us over to his mountainside for a snowball fight." Everyone cheered excitedly. "Get some warm clothes and we'll all head over there shortly." Tsuna stood smiling as everyone started piling upstairs to retrieve whatever equipment they wanted. Even Hibari followed after, given the prospect of getting to pelt Dino with snowballs was too good for him to pass up.

"Good job, Tsuna" Reborn praised. "You rallied them up just like a real Mafia boss."

"Yeah, I did." Tsuna said prospectively. Then his face was repainted with horror. "I DID!? But, I'm not a mob boss!"

"You will be with enough training" Reborn chided. He grabbed Tsuna's arm and flipped him over onto the floor. "Remember, the fate of the entire Mafia world is with you. If you fail at something a simple as snowball warfare…" Reborn took a dramatic pause as he paced over to glare down and already submitted Tsuna, "…I'll terminate you outright." Tsuna screamed softly as Reborn pointed his gun right into his face.

* * *

"Well sir, it should only take us about a half-hour to set the rest of the course up" Romario reported.

"Great" Dino replied. "Call the Vongola's and tell them to start on over. We'll have some tea and get started right away." Romario saluted and went about to find a phone. "And this time, I'll definitely win" he finished to himself with a nefariously sly grin.

"Do you want me to tell them that too, sir?" Romario shouted from away.

"No! Forget I said that!" Dino shouted back defensively.


	16. The Steep Slope of Cooperative SnowWar

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

Tsuna's group arrived after a casual little stroll across the grounds to Dino's privates slope, which had been set up with many various obstacles such as walls and barricades. Mock-forts had even been constructed on the hill; one at the top and one at the bottom. A banner with a clam and two guns crossing it was adorned over the bottom base, with an Italian word that Tsuna couldn't read.

"That's our base, boss!" Gokudera announced with glee.

"Really?" Tsuna asked. "How can you tell?"

"It says 'Vongola' right on the banner" Bianchi pointed out. "Plus, I believe that's a simplified version of the official Vongola seal, right honey-baby?" she said, snuggling up to Reborn on her shoulder.

"A very simplified one, at that..." Reborn said. _I sense that Dino's hubris is shining especially bright today. Subtly dishonoring our family with this hint should more than a reason to go all out..._

"Cool" Tsuna said. "But why's our symbol a clam?"

"'Vongola' means 'Clam' in Italian" Bianchi reported.

"Oh...Why are we clams?" Tsuna asked. Reborn slapped his hand to his head. The Vongola team proceeded inside their little quick-dry cement and log fortress warily, looking around at each detailed wall. There was a full layout of the hill course and its various obstacles, along with a legend written in basic Japanese. The highlighted white areas were large deposits of snow perfect for making snow, dark shapes were walls and other barricades, and a helpful arrow pointed out the suggested spots to set up an offensive.

"Ooh, what are these?" Haru asked curiously, holding a gun of some type . Tsuna gasped and started to panic until he saw on the side 'Snowball Gun' written in basic Japanese.

_Dino needs to get translators..._ Tsuna thought. He went over to the wall and took a look, reading a small plaque titles 'loading directions' that detailed how to properly use each gun. The larger rifles were to be loaded with snow from the opening in the front, pumped until the pump locked, then fired. The pistols were to be loaded with premade snowballs that snuggly fit inside, making them better used as last-ditch weapons. Finally, there was one huge bazooka that was given the instructions of 'shovel in snow, aim, fire!' right on the weapon.

"Where did Dino get there things?" Tsuna asked, eyeing the toys down.

"He probably got a weapons contractor to make them," Reborn said.

"We'll have to ask what store sells these" Yamamoto said, testing the aim of the sights by shooting outside the window and missing completely. "These things are fun!" Tsuna sighed.

"Hey, Yamamoto" Gokudera said, getting his attention. "Give someone else a gun. Your job is gonna be to just throw snowballs normally, okay?" Yamamoto looked at him curiously, then gave a thumb up. "Yeah! Just like they were baseballs!" That trigger word sent Yamamoto into hitman-mode, as he balled up some snow, took aim and pitched with athletic greatness, impacting a nearby barricade loudly.

"Home Run!" Yamamoto cheered happily.

"Boss" Gokudera said, "we should go over our strategy again, now that we know what we're competing with." Tsuna grunted quizzically, never forming a strategy to begin with as it would quickly dissolve with his crazy friends fighting.

"Uh..." Tsuna reluctantly began, just now forming a plan. "Well...I guess we should just move up and, open fire when possible...and..." as he stumbled over himself, the spirit of righteous competition suddenly enveloped one of his comrades.

"Here's the plan!" Haru shouted with her rifle cocked and wearing sunglasses that appeared out of nowhere. "We'll form three teams and move up the mountain in different routes! Team One will consist of myself, Tsuna-san, Ryohei-kun and Lambo-chan. We will move up the left flank! Team Two will be Yamamoto-kun, Gokudera-kun, Bianchi-san and Kyoko-chan! You will move up the middle of the mountain and draw fire away from groups One and Three. Group Three will be Chrome-chan, Kyoya-san, Reborn-san and I-pin-chan. You will proceed up the right flank!"

As she dictated, she drew on their poster map, detailing all the routes usable by the teams with an enthusiastically professional tone. _Yes! _Haru thought to herself. _This is sure to get me in good standings with Tsuna-san! Plus, being on the same team as him will let us bond even further!_

"When'd you tell her the plan, boss?" Gokudera said as he watched the near hysterical girl shout out her orders.

"I didn't have a plan, Gokudera-kun" Tsuna admitted, equally speechless.

"There!" Haru shouted, finishing up her plans with a motivational 'Total Victory' written across the board. "Everyone understand!?"

"Yeah!" Was the loud response. Hibari didn't move to respond to the ludicrous and Chrome was far to overtaken with embarrassment and uncertainty to act on her own at the moment. In the heat of the moment, someone's cellphone started ringing. Everyone looked around and pulled out there own, but the ringing was loudest near Tsuna. He searched around on his person for a phone and, strangely, found on in his pocket.

"Where'd this come from?" Tsuna said, opening the phone and putting it up to his ear.

"Hello, Sawada-san?" a familiar voice said.

"D-Dino-san?" Tsuna exclaimed.

"Yeah! I slipped you this phone so I could call you and tell you when to start the game once you got here." Dino explained.

"Oh" Tsuna replied. A short silence followed.

"GO!" Dino shouted through the phone, sending a huge shock through Tsuna's head. He snapped the phone shut and saw everyone with their overly-serious game faces ready to move out and (from the looks of it) kill. Even Yamamoto looked at least quasi-murderous. The front doors of the bunker blew open as the three teams blasted forward onto the battlefield, some more enthusiastic than others...

* * *

It took about half a minute for Dino's organized teams to completely pin down the Vongolas on all points. Teams One through Three were completely under fire, even to the point wherein Chrome had disappeared under a hail of snow.

"This isn't really going according to plan" Haru commented sourly.

"We didn't have a plan!" Gokudera shouted as a huge pile of snow grazed over him and his team from behind their barrier.

"Grr...That's it!" Ryohei shouted. He stood up from behind his tall wall and readied himself to berserk his way up the hill. He assumed his boxing pose and turned the corner hastily.

"Fire!" Romario shouted. At his command, twelve snow rifles and three snow bazookas unloaded at once. After punching apart a few snowballs, Ryohei was blown back in a huge, flying drift of snow and sent tumbling down the hill.

"Jeez" Tsuna shivered. "Dino-san's really going all out..." Haru cocked her gun and turned the corner quickly. She hit one man while he was reloading and pumped her arm in victory. Then, out of nowhere, ten men popped out and fired at her. She screamed and ducked back just in time to dodge the flying balls of fluffy death.

"These mafia snowball fights are scary, Tsuna-san" Haru said, quivering. Gokudera alternated between loading his sister's gun, watching her miss, hearing her curse and throwing snowballs at the opposition. After getting hit too many times for his short patience to warrant, Gokudera quietly snapped.

"Screw this!" he said sternly. He took out a small stick of dynamite, balled up some snow and stuck the stick in it. "Take this, Chiavorone jerks! Hayato Gokudera's Hyper Snowball..." He pitched the snowball and it landed behind the wall several riflemen were hiding behind. They snickered to themselves and pumped their guns, until they heard the hissing. After an unsettlingly large explosion that spread snow across most of the opposition, Gokudera finished his special techniques "...containing Real Dynamite!"

"That's too much!" Tsuna shouted across the way. "You'll cause an avalanche!" Gokudera only saw his boss waving his arms with terror in his eyes and assumed the obvious. He lit up another Hyper Ball and pitched it at Tsuna's opposition, literally blowing them from the play field. Tsuna sunk back and slapped his head as Haru cheered and moved up, then got violently floored by the still conscious gunners.

Meanwhile, Team Three was temporarily consisted only of I-pin, who no one thought was really playing, as Hibari and Reborn were just relaxing against the sides of one of their barricades and Chrome was still buried, it seemed.

"Hey" Yamamoto called out to Bianchi, "are they out already?" Bianchi followed his pointing finger and took a horrific second glance at Reborn.

"NO!" She shouted. Ignoring the stings of the icy balls that hit her, she sprinted across the field and went over to her sweetie with heafty concern.

"Oh, Reborn, Darling, are you alright? Why aren't you fighting? Did you sprain something?" As his sister made a fool of herself, Gokudera took temporary command.

"Yamamoto!" Gokudera called out. "You see the guys with the bazookas?" Gokudera pointed over to the men in black with the heavy guns. Yamamoto nodded in affirmation. "They're your targets! If you hit them, it's a Grand Slam apiece!" Gokudera's baseball-styled inspiration lit up the maniacal strength in Yamamoto, who balled up a snowball and pitched it with blinding speed at one artilleryman's head. He fell backwards an went into the snow behind him. As soon as the others picked up on what was happening, Yamamoto pelted them as well.

"Great job, Yamamoto-kun!" Tsuna praised from upfield. Yamamoto grinned foolishly, and got pelted hard from the side. "Ah!" Tsuna shouted in surprise.

"Watch yourself, fuzz-head!" Gokudera chided as he threw another ball that detonated under the enemies feet. "Kyoko-chan, listen. We have to-- HUH!?" Gokudera noticed that his only other compatriot was currently trying to hole her brother back from stomping his way back up the mountain.

"Quit it, Kyoko-chan!" Ryohei said brashly, trying to shrug his sister off.

"No, Onii-san, you'll just get frozen again!" Kyoko pleaded. Tsuna observed the continuous strife from within his own family as he listened to Haru getting floored by snowballs yet again. He let out a heavy sigh and grimly stared ahead.

"Thank god our lives aren't at stake" Tsuna mused "or we'd all be long dead..." Tsuna continued to blankly sulk as Lambo climbed around him and stuck his finger up his nose and joined in blankly lamenting.


	17. A Battle Uphill from Downhill & Offhill

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

"Sir! A report from the front line!" said Dino's confidant like a soldier. Dino sat comfortably at his chair in the base, sipping some cacao from a mug and twirled his hand in circles. "The battle is going well, and the Vongola are without order or action. It seems as though we've already won." Dino set his cup down and stood up, gazing out the window with a cool sense of sadness.

"But, you know" he started in a fake forlorn voice, "we haven't yet. They may be up to something down there..." After a moment of thought, Dino made up his mind. He took his whip in hand, threw a scarf around his neck and started out the door.

"Men!" Dino shouted from the top of the hill, "Prepare for the Chiavorone 'Bucking Snow Horse' weapon!" His men gave a loud grunt of salute from all the way down the middle of the slope and they rushed up carefully. Tsuna peeked out from his corner to see if they had all gone, then got beaned right in the face. He fell over, pretending to be dead, right into Haru's lap.

"AH! Tsuna-san, are you alive!?" Haru squealed. Tsuna clinked his eyes slowly, then rose back up and rubbed his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine" he said. "They only have a few guys left though...I wonder why."

"It's because we rock, Sawada-san!" Ryohei said triumphantly from the middle of the field. Tsuna glanced over in shock as he saw the boxer boy building a mound of snow without any cover, and was getting repeatedly pelted with snowballs that seemed to just break off of him.

"Onii-san, take cover!" Kyoko shouted from her own barricade. Ryohei just turned and gave an appropriate thumbs-up, then went back to piling up snow.

"Don't worry" Yamamoto said comfortingly. "You're brother's fine. It's just snow. It doesn't hurt." Before he could even make a noise to illustrate his shock, Yamamoto was reduced to a lump of snow from the concentrated firepower of three artillery strikes. The guards laughed snyly until one of them was instantly thrown back with a ball of snow. The other two look over and the middle guy was sent flying. Finally, the third man looked to the Vongola Sun Guardian, who was punching chunks of snow at ridiculous speeds into the faces of the Chiavorone henchmen.

"Why that little!" the guard stifled. He scooped up a heavy load of snow and crouched down. Unfortunately, he wasn't watching his back, where Gokudera had managed to circle around to and pitch a snow ball right into his head. Even though this only surprised him, it was enough of a distraction for a flying snow punch to land on his cheek.

"BOOM!" Ryohei shouted cheerfully. "Great teamwork, Gokudera!" Gokudera waved at him from across the field and took cover again as another wave of snow came on him.

"This never ends!" he grunted. "It's like pushing a giant boulder uphill and getting pelted with snowballs while you do it!" Gokudera scooped up some more snow and made another Hyper Ball. Once he threw it, the guards were aware enough to dodge before it came to close. As luck would have it, one of the guards was hit off balance by Bianchi, who was actually aiming in the other direction.

"Nice hit!" Gokudera called out to his sister.

"I missed my target again..." Bianchi lamented.

* * *

"At least someone's having fun here..." Tsuna said, feigning laughter. At a ceasefire, Tsuna carried Lambo with him like a football and ran up the field. He made impressive distance, getting even further up than Gokudera before he noticed that the guards were mobilizing again. They all stood at attention with their rifles cocked, side-by-side. It was as if they wanted to be hit, although Bianchi still couldn't near point-blank range. Then, from the top of the mountain, a hail of snowballs from nowhere came firing down.

"Chiavorone..." Dino growled as he whipped. His whip snapped and cracked rapidly, hitting prepared snowballs in front of him and sending them soaring off onto the Vongola's line. "...Blizzard!"

"Ah!" Kyoko shrieked. The snow was coming down from everywhere at once, hitting even the safe-house at the bottom. Even if they hid, each of the Vongola's was getting hit somehow. Tsuna tucked himself tight with Lambo under a barricade.

_I guess there's no harm in losing anymore_ Tsuna thought to himself. _Maybe after we surrender we can all go out and get something to eat at the lodge..._

"YEAH RIGHT!" Ryohei shouted. Tsuna, Kyoko, even Hibari glanced over at Ryohei, who was punching down all the snowballs that came his way as he ran up the hill. "You'll need a lot more effort than just this to down me again!" Ryohei's roaring blitz actually stirred up some confidence and spirit in Tsuna. He felt like they might win, even if the chance was slight.

"Octopus!" Ryohei shouted.

"WHAT!?" Gokudera spat out angrily.

"Let's work together again! Throw some of your 'special' snow balls while I guard you!" Ryohei's plan made sense to Gokudera, who was standing in terror over that realization. At length, however, Ryohei strafed his way over and Gokudera pulled out his bombs.

"Let's do it" Gokudera lowed with his brow in shadows. His bombs, though small, were plenty, and he was situated right next to a major deposit of fresh, usable snow. While Ryohei stood in front and deflected everything that came at them, Gokudera balled up some snow, slipped in some dynamite, and chucked it way overhead. The guards scattered in vain, and the blasts sent them flying in every which way.

"Whoo!" Kyoko cheered, now unafraid to stand up. "Go Onii-san! Go Gokudera-kun!"

"Go Vongola!" Tsuna cheered. The spur of the moment had gotten to him, as he found himself standing up with his arm held high and a sure-fire smile on his face. He didn't move for a moment, still unsure about what to say or do as a follow up besides 'Although I'm not a Mafia boss' and dance nervously.

"Go Vongola!" Yamamoto cheered as he winded up a pitch.

"Vongola!" Lambo cheered as he moved forward then got shot back.

"CLAAAAM!" Ryohei roared as his arms kept moving in blurs.

"It's Vongola, you half-wit!" Gokudera seethed. Dino looked down past his whip and smiled. Somehow, Tsuna had brought some order and vigor back to his family, which meant of course that he would have to step it up himself.

"Sorry Tsuna-san" Dino shouted down the hill, "but you've forced me to do this!" Suddenly, Dino's arm seemed to vanish and his whip started cracking even more rapidly than before. No longer a broken series of shots but a solid stream of fire stared coming down. The pistol speed Dino was using went up to a Gatling gun sound. "Chiavorone Whiteout!" The snow came down more forcefully, more viciously, and in such greater amount that Ryohei couldn't keep up and Gokudera got pelted. Seeing no alternative, Gokudera hid.

"Just when we get ahead he pushes us back!" Gokudera shouted.

"It's like pushing a huge rock up a hill" Ryohei prosed next to him behind the blockade, "only you got people shooting at you on either side.

"Uh, yeah basically..." Gokudera confirmed cautiously. Dino's men all smiled cocksure smiles as their leader continued to suppress the opposition. Then, one by one, the guards started looking away. Something, somewhere was catching their attention. There was nothing in particular that Tsuna could see that was making their heads turn, but he knew what would happen if they all continued.

* * *

"You better get comfortable, Tsuna-san!" Dino shouted. "I can keep this up all--" Dino froze. His imminent danger sense kicked in and time seemed to crawl. It looked as if twenty, maybe thirty whips were all coming at him like snakes. Not to dissimilar to snakes, Dino's whip cracked him in the face so many times in a brief flash that it sounded like on loud, grotesque crack. Dino flailed his arm up, then fell backwards defeated. All his guards were looking into the woods and up at the sky, but none at him.

"Huh?" Ryohei grunted. Gokudera grunted with him. Bianchi moaned at the pain Dino must have taken. Even Hibari looked up curiously from the bottom of the hill. Tsuna's mouth was, of course, wide open with his eyes twitching.

"Look, young Vongola" adult Lambo exclaimed, "up there!"

"When did you get here!?" Tsuna shouted, writhing with his hands. Up at the top of the mountain, standing over the daze Dino was a slender figure swirling with mist. Tsuna's intuition kicked in and he figured everything out.

"C-Chrome-chan!" he shouted. Everyone looked up at Chrome, who was standing with her spear pointed up and dug into the ground. He eye was glowing, as was her ring, and her mass-illusion tactic had worked flawlessly. Only now were Dino's men coming out from their trances and looking around at the lack of monstrous hail.

"Enemy!" Romario shouted from the line. They all turned and pointer their mock-guns at Chrome, who only continued to stand there and amass energy. "FIRE!" An explosion sounded. Gokudera was back and running up the hill with Ryohei. The remaining guards from the explosion all turned on the two and prepared to fire, but their guns had apparently vanished from their hands. Thanks to Chrome, the Vongola powerhouse combo of Sun and Storm was able to retake the mountain side by bombarding their armed but confused opponents with snow punches and snow bombs. Tsuna just slumped his shoulder in disbelief before letting Lambo pull him along.

"Come on" the teenage cowboy chided as he pulled Tsuna along. "We don't want to miss everything! The boss should especially get some of the glory, right?" Tsuna just limply jogged along and stared at the ground.

Dino struggled himself back up and looked down at the field of defeated men, sighing with a smile.

"Um..." Chrome mumbled, "are you alright?" she asked apologetically. Dino chuckled and stood up, brushed off the snow and was about to say 'yes' when his danger sense sent a huge jolt through his whole body. He grabbed his whip with both hands an just barely caught Hibari's arm in mid-deadly-swing. With his men looking on in embarrassment and shock, Dino took Hibari's arm in his loop hold and threw him away, then curled his whip back up and prepared for an inevitable rush. Hibari dashed forward with a bloody glare and armed with his tonfa. Dino readied his whip.

"Ice Hook!" Ryohei shouted, knocking down the last of Dino's guards. Of course, without the inspirational gaze of his men to fuel him, Dino's whip curled around in the air and wrapped many times around his neck. Dino grabbed onto the whip and gagged, fell over and kicked his legs desperately trying to loosen his noose. Hibari slowed his rush down and stopped just short of Dino's twitching body and looked down with his same derisive glare. Watching his former combat mentor writhing around in the snow urged up a compulsive in Hibari to kick him in the side.

"Oh, come on!" Tsuna shouted desperately.


	18. With too much Enthusiasm, Let's Race

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

Two knocks on the door began Tsuna's next bright, guilt filled day.

"Tsuna-kun?" Kyoko's voice called. "Breakfast is ready." Tsuna begrudgingly sat up in bed and scratched his head.

"I'll be right down" he said. He listened to her leave and got up to get dressed for the day again, but before he did he looked out the window. _I hope Dino-san's okay_ Tsuna thought regretfully. _And I hope he didn't have to many broken bones..._

The snowball incident had left the entire mountain side in a state of great disrepair. The snow that was required for the fresh snow piles and the amount that Dino used in his mad rush of painful hail was enough to clear man-sized holes down to the grass on certain parts of the hillside. Dino decided to wait out the rest of his vacation in the safety of his lodge, not to the Vongola's offense, but Tsuna still promised to visit him with condolences from Hibari (without bringing him) the next day.

"Still worried about Dino?" Reborn asked as Tsuna exited his room in a casual sweater and slacks.

"A little" Tsuna said, wincing as he did. The lashing he delivered to himself was brutal enough to cause Tsuna to relapse in pain, even though he barely got hit at all.

"Well, don't" Reborn ordered. Tsuna looked down at him. "I didn't train him to be a wimp. Mafia bosses get hurt, most of the time a lot worse than that. He'll get over quicker than he would a bullet wound." Reborn took a sip from a steaming mug of coffee.

"Well, I guess" Tsuna replied, forgetting who he was arguing with for a moment, "but I'm his friend. I want to make sure he's still breathing, at least. I was kind of my fault, anyway." Reborn took a silent pride in his student, but a good teacher does not always praise.

"Of course it was your fault" Reborn chided. "If you could control your family half as well as they control themselves we'd already be our own world power." Tsuna sank down in defeat while Reborn smiled and kept on ahead to the kitchen.

* * *

"Morning boss" Gokudera cheerfully greeted. Tsuna greeted him back and sat at the table, uneasy to see that Bianchi was passing out trays with food on them.

"It's rice" Yamamoto pointed out.

"Is it?" Gokudera said. Kyoko was about to chide him for being mean, but his Rice was acting more like some weird combination of cornstarch and water than like rice.

"Where's the rest?" Ryohei asked, having consumed half of his bowl of...rice goo already. The girls all looked down in embarrassment.

"Well," Bianchi started, "this was all we had..." Everyone turned to the girls with shocked looks, except Hibari who wasn't there and Ryohei who was passed out and drowning in his own spit from eating Bianchi's cooking without being warned.

"But didn't you guys get groceries yesterday?" Tsuna asked.

"Or some day before yesterday?" Gokudera added with equal curiosity. All three girls shrugged.

"We woke up and came down to cook this morning" Haru explained "but it was all gone!" Chrome was standing at the pantry, presenting the empty closet with her arms up.

"How'd that happen?" Yamamoto questioned. Tsuna's hyper intuitive 'bad-things-happening' sense picked up on some feint humming coming from upstairs. He quietly got up while Gokudera and Bianchi argued over her inability to cook and the residual foods lost in doing so and ran for the stairs. He stopped short of them and saw the source of the noise. Coming down the stairs, humming some lively tune was Adult Lambo, steaming from what seemed to be a shower clad in a white towel. He opened his right eye and looked down at the shocked young Tsuna.

"Yo, young Vongola" he greeted, descending the stairs. Tsuna darted his head to the kitchen, then back to his present problem.

"How long have you been here?" Tsuna whispered. Lambo looked down at him curiously, wondering why he had to whisper.

"Long enough to get a shower" Lambo said, tugging his towel up and tightening it. Tsuna glanced back at the kitchen, worrisome over what Bianchi would do if she saw him, then he started pushing him towards the door. "Yare yare, Vongola. What's the rush?"

"You need to get out of here!" Tsuna whispered loudly, "Before Bianchi sees you!" Lambo perked up and started marching out on his own.

"Just one thing" Lambo requested before he left. "What's on your agenda today? So I know what to wear in the future, of course." Tsuna shrugged hastily as Lambo opened the door.

"Good Morning!" one cheerful young woman employee at the door said. The two women who were there took one look at their greeter, who looked at them back. With a wink and wave of peace, Lambo greeted them with his emphatically cool

"Morning, ladi--" A swift punch to the face and a kick to the gut sent Lambo spinning back into the cabin.

"EEK! Pervert!" one woman shouted, handing off a series of blunt throwing objects from the cart to the other woman who threw them. Lambo scrambled up to his feet, only to receive more blows to the face as Tsuna watched his blood spurt out in shock and horror. The calamity provoked the group in the kitchen to leave and see what was going on. By the time the ladies had run out of things to throw, Lambo was face down in a pool of steadily increasing blood from his face.

"Tol...er...ate..." he stifled out. Tsuna put his hands on his head and started to panic when a blast of pink smoke shot up. Replacing Lambo was Lambo, much to Tsuna's immense relief. Little Lambo looked around, suddenly in his own time again, and he saw Tsuna.

"Ah! You're not the octopus monster!!" he shouted angrily. Tsuna looked down at him and his neck sank.

"Wasn't a weird, hot, naked guy here a second ago?" the frantic lady asked. Tsuna panicked slightly to respond before anyone else could interfere with the conversation, so he came up with a stupid lie.

"No! It was the kid!" he said, pointing at Lambo. "He's a prodigy magician, but he always pulls weird stunts and tricks like that...HA heh..." Tsuna took a deep breath, hoping they bought it. The women shrugged, obviously apathetic.

"I don't really like magic" said one woman.

_How dense can you be in this job!?_ Tsuna shouted internally with a gaping mouth.

* * *

"Anyway, that's the short and long of it" the woman said in finality, hopping on the back of the cart her companion drove.

"See you there!" the driver said with a wave good-bye. They sped off, leaving Tsuna with a cautious confusion to face everyone with.

"What were they talking about, boss?" Gokudera asked. Tsuna looked away bashfully, but started anyway.

"It seems someone registered us for a downhill race today" Tsuna said calmly, "...and we have to compete." His ending forced a unison reaction from the entire group, except Hibari who was still out for breakfast and Ryohei who was still half-dead.

"EH!?"

"But, I can't ski at all!" Chrome shouted out in protest.

"Don't worry about a thing, boss" Gokudera said in a much more pleasant attitude than was necessary. " I have enough skills to pass between fuzz-head and pineapple-head" he bragged, pointing respectively to Yamamoto and Chrome.

"Wait, it's not that simple!" Tsuna insisted. "It's not just the Vongola who were registered, but this _cabin_..." everyone looked at each other for a moment. "We all have to race or they'll arrest us for illegally signing up under false pretenses..."

"They can't do that!" Kyoko shouted in outrage, standing up in a huff.

"...and for wrecking their hot spring and one of their mountain sides..." Tsuna said woefully. Kyoko went limp and sat back down with a sigh.

"Well" she started, trying to sound optimistic, "we don't have to win, do we?" Tsuna suddenly became bright again.

"Yeah" he said. "Yeah!" he repeated more enthusiastically. "Even if we get eliminated or come in last place, as long as we just race we'll be fine!"

"But we'll win anyway!" Gokudera said menacingly. Lambo cheered with him, but that was it, as his evil-looking grin wasn't to inviting to cheer. "We can do it boss! Even if we aren't all the best boarders or skiers here, we're still the best at whatever we've got!" Tsuna looked at hi curiously, eager to find out what defect they had made them perfect.

"How?" Yamamoto asked for everyone. Gokudera turned around, now beside his boss, and pulled out a trusty stick of dynamite.

"Because we have Mafia firepower!" Gokudera said emphatically. Everyone cheered up and agreed with him, except Tsuna, who was still on the fence about blowing competitors in a race up just to win for no reason. However, the side quickly shifted as he noticed all the vibrant, fresh smiles on the faces around him. The more innocent ones were obviously amused at the hint of absurdity that Gokudera was offering, while Gokudera was eager to hear what his boss had to say to the plan. Ryohei, of course, would have cheered at that point but was still comatose and lazily mumbling things to himself. Then he saw Reborn and remembered why he was there in the first place.

"That's exactly right, Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna said proudly. He made his way over to the sofa and planted his foot up on it, trying to look a responsible a leader as he could. "Even if we have to die trying, and no matter how many times we wipe out or crash and burn, we won't give up! And we won't care what anyone says about us, we'll still keep forward and push onward until we all cross that finish line for honor and glory!" Tsuna's cliché driven speech worked up the steely nerves of everyone in the room. Reborn nodded to him, even though he just barely believed what he was yelling himself.

"Hey" Yamamoto started, "when is the race?"

"This afternoon!" Tsuna confirmed joyously. Everyone's faces froze with their energetic smiles but their eyes widened with shock. It was like a statue garden was defaced only in their eyes to look blank minded and stupid. Gokudera was scowling openly with shadows covering the glaring surprise in his eyes. "Is that...too soon?" Tsuna mumbled.


	19. The Fighting Clams, Ready to Race!

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

All the resort-goers were gathering around the advanced slope, the 'Kessel Run', on the south side of the widest mountain. Most were there to observe, but those gathered at the top were there to race. All kinds of enthusiasts were there, from the hardcore competitors with skin suits and top of the line equipment down to the Vongolas. Tsuna and his cabin mates were using rental equipment, except for Gokudera and Bianchi who both brought their own snow-sports stuff.

"I feel really bad about this" Haru moaned, looking down the huge but less-steep hill. "I barely got to ski at all here. I might die!"

"No one's going to die!" Tsuna reassured. Of course, looking at the fire in Gokudera's eyes, he knew he was probably lying without knowing it.

"My, my" a sinister voice said from behind that stirred Tsuna's stomach with fear. "You all entered the contest as well?" Hibari asked, carrying his evil-gray board over his shoulder with his bird mounted on the other.

"Kyoya-san!" Kyoko said in surprise. Hibari shot her a glance, but didn't mind her at all.

"I signed myself up for the race" Hibari began at Tsuna "because I found no real challenging things to do here. They asked for my cabin name, so I hope there wasn't too much trouble about that." The pieces started to click together in Tsuna's mind.

"So then" Tsuna realized, "they must have signed us all up instead of just one of us..."

"Well," Yamamoto started, "it's called the 'Lodge War Race'. I thought that's what it meant..." Tsuna looked over at Yamamoto, then up at the banner that indeed had the words emblazoned and waving in the cool mountain cross-wind.

"...Oh..." Tsuna affirmed embarrassingly. He hung his head down in shame for not realizing it sooner. _It was that obvious..._ he thought with a defeated look.

"Lambo is scared!" Lambo said, quivering in his little snow booties strapped into his tiny snowboard. He was looking down the side of the mountain and shaking, like he was staring down a gun barrel or worse, a batch of broccoli.

"You'll do great!" Yamamoto said to the child with a smile. Lambo stopped shivering, but he was still afraid of the plummet.

"Don't worry Lambo" Tsuna said, "I'm scared too..." Lambo laughed at Tsuna for admitting he was scared, but reset to his fearful state when he looked back down the hill. Thankfully, it was a smooth run with no bump or obstacles or even flags. A large, orange fence was put up for the entire length of the run along each side of the mountain in case someone would happed to veer too far off course. Down at the bottom, the track narrowed down so that only a few racers would be able to cross at once, decreasing the chances of any ties unless they were intentional across the finish line where everyone was gathered to greet their winner.

"You realize" Hibari started as he moved in between Gokudera and Tsuna "that now we are competing." He snapped on his straps and his goggles. "If any of you get in my way, I'll bite you to death."

"Right" Tsuna agreed frightfully. Hibari didn't really care either way if the others got ahead or behind him, he was just determined to find entertainment in the race, even if he lost.

"So what's our plan?" Chrome timidly asked her fellow girl racers.

"We'll just go at our own pace" Kyoko said nicely "because we don't care about winning."

"Okay, 'Vongola' Cabin..." the attendee taking roll said as he came around. "we need a team name."

"FIGHTING CLAMS!" Ryohei spontaneously shouted. Gokudera scowled at him but the man wrote down the name without argument and moved on.

"Hey! It's Vongola! It means the same thing!!" Gokudera tried to argue, but he was gone. Tsuna was in between Ryohei and Gokudera, so he could literally feel the rage melting the snow and ice that was emanating from Gokudera's eyes.

"Morons" Hibari said softly.

* * *

"Who's going to win?" Romario asked his leader. Dion reclined back in his lawn chair that was laid out on his mansion's roof to watch the game through binoculars and gave the obvious answer.

"The Vongolas, of course." Romario took a steady look through his own long-distance zooming binoculars at the top of the mountain where he could just barely make out the shapes of the various boys and girls that made up the team and sighed.

"They're fighting up there" he reported.

"Already?' Dino asked as he pulled out his own pair. "They must have started the race early." Dino looked through his scopes and saw the characters he was rooting for.

Reborn, I-pin and Lambo were taken on record as the youngest competitors in the whole resort, much to the scorn of some parents who thought their children would get the spotlight. A local journalist was trying to record some final thoughts before the race from all the competitors and pick out the best ones for her article. All of her best quotes came from the same team.

"How old are you three?" she asked the children. Lambo was too busy picking his nose to care and I-pin's number was gibberish to her. She flashed five finger as she spoke, though, so that's what she assumed. "How about you, little boy?" she asked the afroed Lambo. He looked up and formulated his articulate response.

"Poop" he said. She smiled at his innocence and just wrote down five. The other child was polishing a (hopefully) toy gun, so she assumed he was about five and moved on quickly.

"How are you girls feeling about the race today?" she asked the Vongola cabin's young female trio.

"Well" Chrome started very shyly, twirling her coat's pull string with her finger, "I guess we feel good about it...? Oh, I'm not sure, Mukuro-sama isn't talking to me anymore!" She started shaking her head in a panic so the reporter quickly moved down the line.

"We're just here to have fun" Kyoko replied happily.

"Ha-HII! Vongola's will rock this mountain up and down!" Haru cheered. Then she moved on to the more serious and deadly crowd.

"As long as you race with love" Bianchi said, "you cannot lose."

"WE'RE GONNA KICK EVERYONE'S ASS!" Ryohei shouted, provoking some rather hostile glances from the nearby teams. He made boxing motions as the reporter continued on.

"Heh! I just hope we all have fun!" Yamamoto said, oblivious to the increasingly hostile atmosphere around him.

"Aren't you going to try to win?" the reporter asked.

"Well, I can't really snowboard or ski that good" Yamamoto admitted modestly. "I don't expect to do too good. I figure I'll be face-first in snow in about a minute any way." He chuckled away as the surrounding teams that overheard him misinterpreted his honesty for rampant gloating.

"...if anyone gets in my way" Hibari said, tightening his glove, "I'll kill them." His seriousness caused the reporter to freeze up completely, but she managed to somehow move over to the next, nicer looking young man.

"Well, I--"

"Listen up, you losers of the world!" Gokudera interrupted, jumping into the imaginary shot as the reporter only had a notepad. "The Vongola Family is the strongest family, always has been and always will be! Even if we don't win, we won't give up and none of us will ever surrender. You know why?" The woman shook her head. "Because death in combat is more honorable than death by quitting, and I'll tell you this: None of us intend to lose and none of us intend to die. It's your choice, world! Face us and perish fantastically, or die trying!!"

No one liked the Fighting Clams anymore. Even Tsuna was feeling regretful about being on the team. The woman pressed her fingers against her head and walked past the other team who seethed at the cocky young upstarts beside them.

"Hey!" one of the professional skiers yelled at the flustered woman. "Aren't you going to interview us?" The flustered woman shook her head.

"I've got enough for this race" she said breathlessly. "I'm going to write my article and leave this place quick."

* * *

A sharp whistle blew at the top of the hill, and a referee took up a microphone that was connected to a PA system down at the base of the mountain.

"Welcome racers!" he announced. "Today, the Yukikowa lodge is proud to present you all with a heated competition on this, our most prestigious racing course!" The crowd and racers all cheered except the select few from the Clams. "Each team has been given a designated colored flag that they have attached to their team members to help you all designate you favorite teams apart! The brochure for the race includes a list of which team is what color."

"Oh!" Dino announced. "The team leader is Kyoya-kun."

"And their team color is brown" Romario added, looking over at the racers and picking out the over-eager Vongolas.

"Are you ready boss?" Gokudera asked as the announcer droned on about some unimportant guidelines and rules. Tsuna nodded hesitantly, still unsure as to whether or not he should risk his life for no reason at all. Everyone seemed happy enough to compete, though, so he decided to do his best as well and fake a major wipeout to get disqualified before anything horrible started regarding his team.

"Racers, ready!" the ref shouted, holding his starter gun up high. Everyone looked down in preparation. "Set!" Everyone bent their knees and prepared to push themselves down. "GO!" With a bang, the race started! The racers were off, and the Fighting Clams took an early lead with Gokudera and Hibari in front of the professional team beside them. Tsuna and the girls were wobbling their way into a steady middle ground with all the other racers. As much sa Tsuna wanted out, he couldn't shake himself quite enough to voluntarily fall over...so he decided to at least try and was able to catch up to the accelerating Ryohei just behind the pros.

"Come on, Vongola!" Dino cheered from far away. "Don't make my bet be in vain!" He grinned as he watched Hibari breeze down the mountain with an air of murderous awesome around him.

"Pathetic" Hibari uttered, unaware of the pros catching up to him and Gokudera behind...


	20. Racing with a Mix of Fear and Enthusiasm

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

As the race continued, more people were cheering on the 'Fighting Clams'. Ryohei was having a rough shouting match with anyone who bothered to try and pass him. After they did, he threw snowballs at them and forced them into a violent spin that kicked up a marvelous spray of powder that increased Ryohei's standing with the female viewers. Gokudera just threw snowballs from three-board's length behind the leader, Hibari, who was automatically popular by his threatening aura demanding him to be.

Then, of course, the other racers on the brown team. Yamamoto was keeping his pace with Lambo, making sure he was safe. Tsuna was going along at a fair enough pace, but keeping himself slow enough to stay with the girls Kyoko and Haru. Bianchi wiped out early and decided not to race anymore out of boredom. I-pin was the exception to their rag-tag novice skills, as she was able to keep her pace with Reborn as he sped down through the ranks of racers between him and the rest of the Vongola.

"All too easy" Hibari said to himself. Of course, he didn't know Gokudera and Ryohei were beating down all the other racers before they could pull ahead of Hibari and get really hurt. "There's no competition here, either."

"KYAAA!" Chrome screamed as she went speeding past him. "HELP! I can't stop!" Hibari blinked in disbelief, then leaned in and sped up.

"Crap!" Gokudera shouted. "She wasn't supposed to do that." Chrome went barreling down the hill with her arms flailing for desperate balance and her knees keeping her feet straight and separate enough to pick up the speed she did. It was as if she was ignoring the law of weightspeed downhill as she flew downward. Hibari, of course, was now close behind her. "Hey! Lawn-head!"

"What!?" Ryohei shouted across the track. Gokudera ushered him forward. Ryohei leaned over and sailed smoothly over to his friend, accidentally bumping him lightly and knocking him off his balance for a second. "What's up?"

"Can you get past Hibari and slow down Chrome?" he asked.

"The pineapple chick that turns into a dude?" Ryohei clarified. Gokudera nodded. "Alright! That's easy!" Ryohei sped up drastically just in time to pass the first check point a fraction of a second behind Hibari, but both a near whole second behind the panicked Chrome.

"I hope she doesn't crash" Kyoko said to herself. Tsuna heard her worry and wanted to confirm with it, but his head stopped in mid turn at Yamamoto tumbling down the hill without his board.

"Yamamoto-kun!" Tsuna yelled. He veered over and stopped where he did, checking to see if his friend was alive. Lambo crawled past, picking his nose, which Tsuna ignored.

"You guys are weak" Lambo mocked. "This hill isn't a big-" a low branch caught Lambo's afro and picked him off the ground. The crowd and racers enjoyed a guilty chuckle at the screaming child's expense.

"Yamamoto-kun, are you alright!?" Tsuna shouted. He wasn't moving at first, but then he coughed up a wad of snow and rubbed his head.

"Oh, hey Tsuna! Did we win already?" he dizzily replied. Tsuna grimaced and darted his head around.

"Help! I need a doctor!" Tsuna shouted desperately to the sidelines. Every white-coated paramedic already had someone in their arms or on a stretcher and people were lined up along the entire sideline holding their aching parts.

"Get your own!" an injured racer shouted, angry at the entire brown team for their berserk cheating racers down below.

"..." Tsuna was stricken with grief over his potentially hurt friend.

"Tsuna-san!" Haru shouted as she closed in. "You go race. Kyoko and I will take care of Yamamoto-kun." Her attempts to cool Tsuna down were mostly wasted, as he was still in mid crisis panic over it.

"Tsuna-kun" Kyoko chimed in sweetly. "You should finish before us. We'll get Yamamoto-kun taken care of, I promise." Kyoko's sweet words coming from her beautiful mouth had calmed Tsuna down more than enough. He nodded, picked himself up, and pushed away down the hill while the girls made sure Yamamoto was indeed alright enough to survive.

* * *

_This is bad f_Gokudera thought, watching from behind as the murderous Hibari was edging closer to the speeding Chrome. _I'm sure he won't want to let her get away with passing him without so much as a little bruise...but does Mukuro draw the line at appearing out of nowhere at a bruise!? If he hurts her we could all be seriously in danger!_"LAWN HEAD! SPEED UP!" Gokudera now shouted demandingly.

"I'm doing the best I can OCTOPUS! Maybe you should get down here and TRY IT YOURSELF!" Ryohei responded. Hibari pulled himself back enough to acknowledge that he was about to be outraced and didn't like it.

"What are you doing," Hibari asked the frantic boy, "this far away from you herd?" Ryohei blinked in confusion, ignorant of the impending danger.

"Huh?" Ryohei grunted.

"You heard me," Hibari said menacingly, raising his arm up to point at the boxer. "You sheep." Ryohei's eyes went white and his anger ticked on.

"What was that, you...stupid..." Ryohei tried hard to come up with an insult to equate his apathetic family-mate, but pulled up a blank and resorted to just calling him "...goat!" Hibari smirked and started leaning away.

"You're not worth it" he said. That insult struck a serious nerve with the extremist young man who leaned in to try and catch up with him, forgetting about the girl he was supposed to save from a visceral beat down.

"And now" the announcer blared over the PA. Tsuna looked up in attention. "A surprise twist! This race track is actually an experimental, high-tech course with fold-up obstacles! In the second half of our race, we will introduce the first, most dangerous element of any ski-resort mountain trail:" The snow beyond the next checkpoint started shifting as large wooden pillars started rising up from nowhere. Chrome took a moment to pause and stare down the dense forest that sprang up from no where before screaming even louder in terror.

"Trees! Good luck, surviving teams!" Hibari and Ryohei looked down with serious glares and readied their respective weapons.

"I'll bite you to death when we're done" Hibari threatened.

"Dude, cannibalism's weird!" Ryohei shouted. "Just say' I'll end you' or something cool!"

"That's not a cool threat!" Gokudera shouted from directly behind Ryohei. "That's just corny."

"Says you!" Ryohei shouted back. Tsuna was now close enough from the lack of people trying to win against his team anymore that he could hear the entire chaotic shouting match.

"How are we going to win, exactly?" Tsuna said to himself.

"I agree" someone said from behind. Tsuna turned and saw in unregistered, cow-patterned, orange-goggled Adult Lambo beside him. Tsuna just gapped at him in total disbelief.

"How'd you get here!?" Tsuna shouted.

"Yare yare, who knows?" Lambo replied. "It seems we're racing now though, so let's do our best to win!"

"How long have you been here?" Tsuna asked. Lambo shrugged.

"A few seconds or so." he replied.

"And you caught up to me already!?" Tsuna yelled. "How slow am I going?"

"Not slow at all" Lambo said, adjusting and fastening his horns. Tsuna wanted to ask, but decided to just keep a safe distance away. "Watch, young Vongola. I'll show you the power that I have harvested ten years in the future over the course of your vacation!"

"Just a few days!?" Tsuna asked in astonishment.

* * *

"_Electro Cornata!_" The flash-bang of lightning from nowhere rang out over the mountain. Bianchi could feel a dangerous shifting of snow up at the top as she filed her nails.

"Isn't that the Bovino boy from the future?" Romario asked. Dino watched the static-charged boy pick up insane speed down the mountain path.

"This won't end well" Dino said with an air of seriousness, like a prediction. It already wasn't well, as Tsuna was blown away into the sidelines in surprise from the lightning that came down into Lambo's horns.

"How can he go so fast!?" the spectators nearby shouted. Lambo was already catching up to Hibari and Ryohei, who were still in pursuit of the ridiculously lucky Chrome who was swerving between every tree and screaming at the top of her lungs.

"AH! I don't want to die!" Chrome screamed. She pulled out her trident from seemingly nowhere and pointed it forward, hooking onto a flat tree. The rush to her head made her pass out long enough to miss the feeling of her entire body weight being pushed away from the tree she pivoted from.

The head rush eventually woke her up long enough to experience the pain as she was flung at high speed into the orange separator and then again into a tree. Then she stayed passed out. Gokudera watched on with blank eyes and wondered where the mist would start coming from. A razor dash of wind blazed past him and caught his attention again. Gokudera swung out his arm instinctively to regain his balance and looked on.

"Cow?" he questioned. Lambo, meanwhile, effortlessly dodged every tree with his hands in his pockets going a proportionate Mach-one past Ryohei and Hibari. He turned and flashed a peace sign with one eye closed under his tinted goggles. Hibari didn't let himself get distracted and kept dodging, but Ryohei was so impressed that he crashed straight through a plywood tree and regained himself.

"Stupid wood!" he shouted. With powerful swings that made him switch his feet in mid-air, Ryohei started punching down the trees and started pulling ahead of Hibari. Hibari didn't want him to pull ahead, so he imitated him and sliced his obstacles into shrapnel with his tonfa.

"Why haven't we been disqualified yet?" Tsuna asked as he watched Yamamoto get carried away.

"We've got another one!" a medic yelled. "A young girl with purple hair slammed into a tree after going over the separator."

"GAAAAAAH!!" Tsuna screamed, hearing the medic's report. Some of the other people watching looked at him suspiciously, so he just laughed nervously and strafed away towards Kyoko and Haru.

"I guess we're going to win" Kyoko said happily, watching the camera-feed of her brother racing against Hibari. Then the camera panned to the first place racer, a mysterious young man who was screaming down the mountain on a cow-pattern board.

"That looks like Lambo-chan's board!" Haru said.

"Oh, yeah" Tsuna quickly said to cover for his futuristic friend. "That's Lambo's brother. He's here too, racing alone. They both have the same, uh, style."

"Hahi, that's why he seems so familiar!" Haru exclaimed.

"Haven't we seen him before somewhere, though?" Kyoko asked. Tsuna tried to form another quick excuse when the screen stole away all his attention. Hibari was catching up to Lambo, and he didn't look happy that he was in second.

"Oh...yare yare" Tsuna muttered.


	21. Winning and Losing can Feel the Same

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

"Behold!" Lambo yelled out as he fell down the mountain just above the snow. "This is the genius method I have invented to maximize my effort on the slopes. _Antigravitazione_ Snowboarding, utilizing my natural electric current abilities, I vaporize the snow directly under me, reducing friction and allowing me to glide gracefully down any hill!" Lambo leaned over to dodge Hibari's furious swing of his tonfa and jetted across the entire track almost into the fence. Thankfully, he pulled up and sailed down the plastic fence sideways, eventually steadying back out with a frown.

"Oh yeah" Lambo said to himself. "It's also really hard to steer without any snow to steer on. Ah, this is troublesome." He looked over at Hibari, who was leaning forward and aiming to win no matter what insanity came up next. "Very well then, Hibari from now, I'll fight you!" Lambo leaned his entire board forward and jetted ahead. The two were locked in an uncontrollable battle of speed now.

"Now that we're almost done with the race," the announcer said, giving Tsuna a cold shock of premonition, "we'll introduce the next set of obstacles." The snow unsettled and shot up in powdery clouds. "Now, we add ramps!" Indeed, strewn in the racer's path down were several small ramps. A minor annoyance for Hibari, who steered and swerved around them, but deadly for the speedy Lambo who was already bracing himself for pain. Ryohei was closing in from behind, eying down the best looking ramp jump for a better chance at catching up to Hibari.

"Okay," Ryohei decided, steering towards one good-looking ramp.

"Oh, also" the announcer continued, with the snow around some of the ramps moving again. "Let's put some ominous holes around the track as well!" The snow opened up to deep and wide holes that shocked the racers still alive, including Gokudera.

"It never ends, does it?" Gokudera complained. He kept his balance and took out a cigarette to pass the time for the rest of the race. Also, the other teams were closing on his quickly and he wanted them off his tail soon. When he heard one of the more pompous skiers from before start to hack and cough, Gokudera smiled.

"That's cheating!" one of the self-proclaimed pros yelled from behind Gokudera and the rest of team Clam far ahead. "I'm reporting them."

"No, dear" the man's significant other chided. "We're just here to ski ad have fun, right?"

"Well, I can't have fun if these jerks are cheating!" the man boisterously demanded. He steered away from the young man's smoke stream and went over to the fence. Before he got far, he was pelted with some horrid, oozing snowball made of purple ooze.

"Honey! No! WHY!?" the woman dramatically screamed before getting pelted likewise. Gokudera's nose picked up a familiar, terrifying stink approaching him. He turned around just slightly and caught a glimpse of his sister skiing effortlessly down the hill, thankfully with goggles on.

"Hayato-kun" she yelled over the whipping wind. Gokudera put a hand to his ear and listened up to her. "Please try not to set off any dynamite. The snow on this mountain is very loose and you could cause an avalanche." Gokudera gave his OK sign and refocused on boarding forward. Then he shook his head rapidly to try and shake off the illusion that his clumsy sister was in fact skiing beside him.

"Wait," he demanded, pointing a shaking finger at her, "when...how'd you learn to ski!?"

"Dino-san gave me a crash course" Bianchi said. "I found him here before you all did. Besides that, he's just a much better teacher and skier than you are, Hayato-kun." As she finished her taunt she started pulling ahead of Gokudera, who was still stuck in a daze for a few seconds more. Snapping back to his reality, Gokudera noticed that he was coming up on the ramps now.

"Go!" Kyoko shouted. "Go Onii-san!" The video screen was now focusing on the third place racer, Ryohei, who was wildly ramping up and about, spinning in mid-air and landing perfectly to ramp again.

"Go, Vongola!" Haru cheered for the general racers.

"Come on, Gokudera-kun!" Yamamoto shouted out, regaining his basic speech once again after his abrupt concussion earlier. "You can do it!" Just then, the video switched to a view of Gokudera, who somehow got the impression that Yamamoto was cheering for him. Across the publicly populated bleachers at the bottom and the civilians watching in the sidelines, woman covered children's eyes and men laughed as Gokudera shouted something inaudible and flipped off the camera. Bianchi caught sight of that as she carefully swerved around the bigger ramps and turned around with a sneer to her brother.

"Hayato!" Bianchi shouted in anger. She let herself slow down and waited for her little brother to get close. Gokudera jumped a ramp and successfully landed without losing any speed or direction, keeping his balance and bending his knees at just the right time to keep going. That's when his stomach started to cramp up. He turned to see his sister next to him, arms crossed and face uncovered. Instantly, Gokudera passed out and fell over, tumbling down the rest of the hill until his body got caught in a hole and bounced around the edges until he was sunk in like a basketball.

"Don't" she nefariously started, "be rude." She yanked down her goggles again and kept racing on with a bowl of rancid doom in her hand, prepared with love for her competition ahead.

* * *

"Ha!" Dino laughed. "This is hilarious!"

"But," Romario started nervously, "at this rate we'll lose the bet!"

"No we won't" Dino said. "Look. That's the Bovino boy, right? He's Tsuna Thunder, a member of the Vongola, so if he wins we'll win."

"Not only that" Romario added, realizing what his boss was so happy about, "but the random alliance bingo as well!"

"Indeed!" Dino confirmed. The 'random alliance bingo' Romario referred to was the Chiavarone's failsafe against losing most of the bets they ever took up. Basically, if they knew more than one family was in a competition, they could bet on their favorites and any one member of the other family to tie and multiply the money by a factor of twenty instead of five. It was a genius system that the rest of the mafia world hated because the Chiavarone always took advantage of it and won tons of money off of it.

"If Lambo and Kyoya-san tie," Dino began enthusiastically, "we'll have enough money to buy that cruise ship!"

"The one with the three-store pool?" one of Dino's nearby men asked. Dino turned and nodded his head. The man was so excited he ran out the door to tell the news to his comrades. Dino just chuckled and went back to watching Hibari and Lambo race down the hill. Lambo's hair was ruffling wildly in the passing mountain air, as was Hibari's. For the young women below, it was no longer a contest of speed, but of heat.

"GO, Cow-shirt guy!" An entire bleacher section cheered with impromptu signs baring Lambo's face all shiny and glowing.

"Screw him!" Hibari's section shouted. "We love you, evil guy!"

"Yeah!?" one girl shouted and threw a snowball into the Hibari section. "Eat snow and die, hussy!" IN a second, a war of fandom broke out, leaving Hibari speechless and Lambo distracted as he pushed his hair back arrogantly.

"Don't worry" Lambo said to his racing rival. "You'll get used to it." Hibari re-found himself and snapped over to Lambo, who leaned out of the way, over a hole, and went rocketing up a ramp. As he flew through the air, slowly tipping sideways and frozen completely, he had the same stunning thought that he usually had when he stared down death.

"I wonder" Lambo said, cupping his chin with his finger and thumb, "just how long it would take a helicopter to fall if its rotors stopped in an instant..." His random, abrupt thought was interrupted by the rushing, burning sting of snow shooting up his shirt as he impacted to ground and went rolling away down the hill. His speed was so great, however, that his static-charged board continued to propel him forward at the same pace as Hibari. Just a few more meters to the goal line and a tremendous collision occurred. The two young men were mixed up in a tumbling ball of chaos and snow. In the final seconds of the race, a photo flash went off.

"HAAA!" Ryohei screamed as he fell down from the sky, upside down. "EXTR--" The rest of his victorious shout was captured in film, as he landed face first on the finish line. Bianchi soon thereafter gracefully came across. As for the other racers...there were none. No one but the Vongolas had survived the ramps and pits.

"Payday" Dino lowed victoriously. Down in the winners circle, the girls were still fighting over the snowy bodies of the winners that laid face down as the officials evaluated the definite winner.

"Cow-shirt-san" one of Lambo's fans called out, "are you alive?" She skipped over and picked him up, freezing in horror at the terrible red mark on his face from the deathly graze along the hard snow. She started screaming when she looked down at the small puddle of red where his face once lay.

"Please" Lambo said, quivering and reaching out his hand for the girl's shoulder. "Is it...serious?" he asked with his one sad eye and a gruesome looking gash on his forehead. Blood from his head, nose and mouth was oozing out. "...the pain..."

"KYAAAAA!" the girl screamed, tossing him away. As Lambo slowly rag-dolled through the air back to the ground a tear left his eye.

"Why!?" he shouted, exploding into a pink cloud. Hibari raised himself up now, angrily stomping over to the cloud and glaring the smoke away. Unfortunately, he only saw a bored little boy with an afro picking his nose, no suave young racer who had taunted him so brashly on the course.

"Where..." Hibari muttered. "How?...Oh." Hibari came to a conclusion that seemed more than reasonable from his current experience. "Illusions. I must be getting weak, he felt quite real..."

"Cow-shirt-san?" Lambo's fans shouted to search for him. The girl who had picked him up was crawling away in terror, staring at the odd little boy out of nowhere.

"Ha!" one o Hibari's fans shouted tauntingly. "Your guy must have run away. All fear and respect the cool, evil looking guy! Evil guy, we love you!" Hibari's fans raced over to him as he straightened himself out and bashed the snow away from his wool cap.

"If any one of you touches me" he said, glaring daggers their way, "I'll bite you to death..." The girls all froze in mid-air, much to Bianchi's amazement, all of them equally scared and shocked. "I'm satisfied with how that went" Hibari commented as he picked up his board and started away. "Farewell." And then he left, leaving the girls who were blindly cheering for him with tears and drool building from rejection and pure admiration of watching him leave.

* * *

"And so" and oddly perfect looking Mario, manager of the resort and orchestrator of the race announced, "I'm pleased to announce our winner: Kyoya Hibari. The other young man who tied with him was nowhere to be found, but congratulations to you as well." The audience applauded for good humor, with the fangirls sadly muttering their cheers for their hot heroic devil. "And so, we award this plaque" which he held up, reading 'Best Competitive Skier from Yukikowa Lodge' "to the 'Fighting Clams' of the Vongola cabin."

"No way" Tsuna said, wrapped in a blanket on the sofa watching the TV announcement made on the local broadcasting channel. "Ow!" Tsuna shouted, getting smacked by Reborn with a yardstick.

"Don't get distracted." Reborn chided. "Finish your work." Tsuna sheepishly confirmed and went back to writing his mandatory punishment report on the important factors of snowboarding and how they relate to real life. Reborn wouldn't let him stop until he had at least en pages filled to the margins with facts. Hibari watched from the stairs, keeping away enough from the others so he wouldn't have to socialize with the losers.

"Oh hey!" Ryohei shouted, watching the report from earlier. "There's me!" he pointed in excitement. Indeed, he was seen walking up the steps to receive his congratulatory award for second place, as well as a confirmed award for conquering the _Extreme Maniacal Death Course_ earlier that week. "Ha, that was fun. I should go it again before we leave tomorrow." His sister threw a pillow at him from her seat on the same sofa as Tsuna.

"Never again, Onii-san" she chided. Ryohei smiled and rubbed the back of his head.

"I wonder" Yamamoto began, "how Chrome-chan is doing..."

"Eh?" Tsuna perked, wonder the very same himself. Since the medics brought her back, she had been very withdrawn...only more so and with the girls she had gotten to know so well. "Oh, yeah/ Isn't she sleeping upstairs still?" A jolt of cold went down Tsuna's back.

"You think she'll want dinner?" Bianchi asked.

"Not from you" Gokudera mumbled far under his breath. Bianchi didn't hear it, or at least she pretended not to, and kept on watching the awards as the entire team gathered for a victory-sign pose off. Tsuna was forced to the center, where he could be seen making two peace signs at once with Gokudera at his right side and Kyoko at his left. Reborn liked that picture, so he asked for multiple copies and had one framed above the fireplace for future tenants to view. When Reborn turned back from admiring the televised capture of the Vongola family's first great picture, Tsuna was gone.

Upstairs, Chrome was looking out the window longingly, like she was waiting for someone to appear out of nowhere for her.

"Feeling fine?" Hibari asked for her door. Chrome nodded silently. "I'd like to have a word with you, then" Hibari insisted, "...outside." Even though she could feel the coldness in his speech, Chrome turned and nodded, keeping her face serious and firm. Hibari started walking out in his prefect suit to the balcony and Chrome put on her puffy coat she and the girls bought to follow him out. Tsuna reached the third floor in time to see her leave and shut the door behind her.

"Bad" Tsuna muttered to himself. "This is bad!" He made a rush for the door but stopped short. He shook his head and ran back down a flight of stairs to retrieve his gloves and Hyper Mode pills from his room...


	22. Taking the High Road into Hell

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

Kyoko hopped across the room to respond to a knock at the door. She opened it, and Dino stood with several of his guards in the falling snow.

"Good evening, Vongolas!" Dino greeted the room. "May we come in?"

"Of course" Kyoko nicely replied. Dino and his small guard all entered one at a time, leaving their boots and shoes at the door.

"It's quite chilly out there" Dino said, removing his coat and handing it off to one of his men so he could sit down. He took a quick glance around the room, seeing everyone enjoying their peaceful evening by the fire, but he didn't see a few select people.

"Say," Dino started, "where's Tsuna-kun?" He turned to Reborn, who shrugged. No one seemed to know, which upset Gokudera visibly. "Hmm...Kyoya-san and Chrome-chan are missing as well, aren't they?" Gokudera was also the only one to immediately respond, this time by sitting up at attention and fear.

* * *

"What is it?" Chrome asked, letting her night-shirt blow in the icy breeze up on the roof. Hibari kept his hands (and tonfas) in his coat pockets, wondering how she wasn't freezing to death by now.

"Mukuro Rokudo" Hibari started. Chrome sighed and turned around, leaning against the rail.

"I told you already" she began, "I don't know who that is."

"Of course you don't" Hibari stated, moving closer. "You're him..." Chrome became very unsettled, but she refused to show it. She considered using an illusion to keep her from looking as suspicious as she must have, but she didn't. "I know you illusionist types. You're cowards, always hiding in the shadows and preying on the pack, leaving the leader without and army and then you take him down as well..."

"What?" Chrome cooed out, keeping an innocent and almost child-like tone.

"Don't try to condescend me" Hibari threatened. "Besides, taking the form of a little girl to prevent yourself from injury is more of a sick attempt than a desperate one." Now Chrome felt very uncomfortable and didn't care to show it. "You're disgusting..." Hibari continued, raising his tonfa up slowly. "Biting you to death will taste bitter." He charged, pushing Chrome off the third-story roof and down into the snow. Tsuna was able to barge in on the scene just in time to watch Hibari jump down over the railing. Tsuna rushed over and looked down with building dread.

"Oh no!" Tsuna said out loud. "If he hurts Chrome, then the _real_ Mukuro will appear!" Tsuna went into a slight panic and put on his gloves. Then, from his pocket, he retrieved a small blue pill.

Down on the ground, Chrome was alright but startled as she propped herself up on her spear that had been hidden in the invisible mist of Chrome's illusion magic at all times. Hibari landed hard in the snow but simply brushed off the shock of the landing.

"You're surprisingly nimble in that body" Hibari said, sadistically commenting his prey. Chrome readied her trident as Hibari rushed forward with a killing intent. Unphased by it, Chrome launched an illusion that made the air seem to twist. Hibari ignored it, but he also felt like he was falling. Below him, the ground had disappeared and a spiraling void of red and purple expanded infinitely. Hibari knew it was an illusion, it was to fake not to be, but his mind wouldn't snap out of it easily. Mukuro was a great illusionist, that was certain.

"Like I said" Chrome began, letting him out of the illusion as he staggered about in a circle, "I'm not him."

"Of course not" Hibari said, although not in her direction. "Not yet, anyway. When will you break that stupid facade!?" Again Hibari rushed, but the true nature of the illusion was revealed. His rush ran him straight into the brick-and-mortar of the external part of the cabin's chimney. He pulled away and grabbed his head, severely disoriented.

"I don't want to fight you" Chrome admitted, spinning her weapon behind her. "We're both on the same team, after all, and the boss might get cross with me if I injure you..."

"Injure" Hibari lowed, "me?"

"...so please, let's just pretend this never happened and go back inside."

"Hmph" Hibari grunted, leaning against the stone column. "I don't know who you think I am, but I'm on no one's side but my own." With his senses restored and his vision only a little blurry, he turned and locked his murderous eyes on Chrome, who refused to back down. Her sternness just barely matched his determined, berserk killing rage. So, Hibari charged. Chrome prepared to stab him once he got in range, and everything became just a little warmer...

* * *

"Tsuna-san!" Haru shouted into the upstairs. "Are you up here?" There was no response. "If you're in the bathroom, just say so okay?" Again, no sound at all. Haru put a worried hand to her chin and went back downstairs.

"Tsuna-kun!" Kyoko called. The entire house was being turned inside-out while the family searched for Tsuna and the other missing ones.

"Chrome-chan!" Yamamoto called out to the third story. "Hibari-san?" No response, and the worry in his gut grew.

"TSUNA-SAN!!" Lambo screamed into the pantry closet. He knew no one was in there, but what opportunity to shout would he pass up? Even I-pin was searching by calling in Chinese, what little that would help.

"I'm becoming worried" Bianchi admitted to Dino in the living room.

"Yeah" Dino replied thoughtfully. "I'll go check outside. Men, keep searching in here." Dino's men dropped what they had in hand, along with their jaws, and shouted together. Romario was the first to get to the door and stop his boss from venturing out alone in a snow fall.

"Wait, Dino-sama" Romario pleaded, blocking the door. "Let me accompany you."

"It won't take long" Dino insisted. He pushed his loyal subordinate out of the way and stepped out in his boots. "You guys just keep looking in here, and yell for me if you find anything. Even a shred of cloth is better than nothing." With that he shut the door, and his men all waited in silence. Only a moment later, Dino opened the door back up and fell in, face first onto the floor, covered in snow.

"There's" he stuttered into the floorboards, "There's a blizzard out there!"

_That's absolutely sad_ Bianchi noted mentally as Dino's men raced to the rescue. She noticed that it was, indeed, storming quite bad now. Then, she heard the back door and rushed to the kitchen to see if it was one of the missing children. It was a child, but not one missing.

"Sweetums" Bianchi cooed to Reborn at the door.

"I'll look outside" Reborn said. "It's possible that they went for a walk and never told us." Bianchi trusted the tiny hitman and nodded in reply. Reborn just stepped out and closed the door when already he knew where they all were and what was happening. Hopping quickly from tree branches and window ledges, he reached the snowy backyard where he could feel the heat resonating from even inside...

* * *

"Hibari" Tsuna said in a totally focused and neutral tone, "step down." Just before a horrendous impact of metal and blood, Hyper Mode Tsuna jumped in with his blazing gloves to stop and propel away the offending delinquent. Regardless, Hibari just pressed on harder with his tonfa.

"Boss" Chrome whispered. Tsuna turned just slightly to her, then pushed Hibari away and across the entire yard with a jet-propelled push. Hibari flipped through the air and landed, splitting a rock on the ground that he landed near.

"Chrome-chan" Tsuna ordered in his super-tough voice. "You should get out of here. I'll calm him down." Chrome hesitated for a moment, but when Hibari locked back onto her, she ran away. Tsuna moved in his visual path, getting locked down instead, and prepared for him to rush again. Hibari made a dashing start, but Tsuna's was much more powerful. He used his awesome dying will flame to shot forward. With his hands behind him, he whipped them forward and grabbed Hibari's arms. The force of both actions canceled each other out.

"I'll bite you to death!" Hibari threatened as he pushed into the impeding Tsuna. Even in Hyper Mode, Hibari's strength was great enough to push Tsuna back. With no proper ground to dig into, it became strictly a test of pure strength, which led them both to equal ground.

"Don't be foolish, Hibari-san!" Tsuna grunted. "I won't let you hurt her for no reason!"

"I have a reason" Hibari began. "Mukuro Rokudo and she are far to close together in some way. Either she's is really him, or they have some other relation."

"Well" Tsuna grunted, knowing he would eventually lose this battle, "I happen to know the truth." Hibari's eyes shot up. All at once, he pushed all his strength into his arms and threw Tsuna into the air. Tsuna just flickered his flames and hovered safely back to the ground, staring down his murderous guardian.

"You will tell me" Hibari threatened.

"I'll only tell you" Tsuna added "If you promise to leave her alone!" Hibari fell silent for a moment. He could feel another presence nearby, but one that didn't register as a threat. Chrome was gone and the windows to the back were still dark. Tsuna kept himself ready to jet forward or back if necessary to keep him occupied, but Hibari finally came to his own conclusion.

"Mind you," he started with a grin, "this doesn't change my standing with you people. The Mafia and its parts have nothing to do with me..."

"Fair enough" Tsuna said. He knew that Hibari would eventually come around on that topic, but for now the rest of his family was safe. The boys decided to adjourn their scrap to the roof where Tsuna promised to divulge everything he knew and all he didn't know about Chrome and Mukuro.

* * *

Not to soon after Chrome came back in did Hibari and Tsuna reenter. Tsuna was shivering and Hibari was making a clean gait for the stairs.

"Tsuna-san!" Haru said cheerfully. "Was it too cold out there for you? Let me get you a blanket."

"Oh, not now" Tsuna declined politely. "Hibari and I have to discuss something on the roof." Haru grunted curiously as Tsuna followed after Hibari upstairs, leaving the rest of the house wondering just what had happened during their walk that made them so moody.

"Maybe" Lambo theorized with his finger up his nose, "they have to poo and they're going to play 'Rock Paper Scissors' to decide who poos first..." He was dead serious about his completely childish theory, which may be what made Gokudera made enough to actually kick him on his side.

"Hoe dare you!" Haru shouted, racing over to pick up the tipped cow-boy. Loud arguing soon broke out which Chrome, sitting on the chair, decided to leave in favor of her room. She realized that Tsuna would soon reveal her entire story, at least the parts he knew, to Hibari. But, Tsuna had just saved her from Hibari's overwhelming strength, so she was not concerned with what Hibari would do to her anymore.

"As long as I have people like him" Chrome said softly to herself as she walked up the steps, "I won't have to worry at all." She continued up, musing carelessly to herself, and bumped into something firm as she rounded to corner.

"Chrome-chan!" Yamamoto said happily as the girl staggered back. "You're okay! Were you outside wtith the guys?" Chrome bashfully nodded and moved past him.

"I'm going to bed now" she said. Yamamoto waved her good night and continued downstairs, unable to shake the uneasy feeling he had just picked up.

_It's weird,_ he thought seriously, _but it seems that those two were really serious about something. Did something happen with Chrome-chan outside? Maybe they had a fight, or maybe they were talking about us...then again, Hibari isn't the nicest guy. I doubt he'd stay sitting in a conversation for more than a minute without trying to 'bite someone to--_ Yamamoto stopped dead, just before he planted his feet on the ground floor, and had a frightening epiphany.

"I should go up and check on Tsuna-kun" he assured himself, turning around and racing upstairs again. "If he's talking with Hibari-san, it can't be anything nice and calm!" Yamamoto nearly ran up the stairs to the balcony where he had just seen both boys leaving with no explanation beyond talking. Knowing them both, there would most likely be much less talking than a normal pair would do...


	23. Talking his way Across the River Styx

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

"I should tell you" Tsuna began "that I don't know much..."

"What you do know" Hibari replied, "will be appreciated. And by the way" he continued, placing his head lazily to his palm, "don't take this to mean that I'm with you or anything. Like I said, I'm not on your team and I never will be."

"Yeah" Tsuna nervously said, "I know." Tsuna gathered his thoughts and began to explain what he knew of Chrome.

"Chrome-chan is herself, not Mukuro in disguise" he started. "However, I do know that she has close ties with Mukuro. It's like a master-apprentice kind of bond, I think. She can use his illusion magic the same as he can, but not as powerful. My dad picked her out as my Mist guardian because Mukuro possessed her and regularly communicates with her, I think..." Tsuna could see that Hibari was getting annoyed with the lack of facts so he said something he knew happened. "...but when she's critically injured, her stomach caves in. Before she came in contact with Mukuro, she was apparently in an accident and lost some organs as well as her eye. She's kept alive because Mukuro uses his illusions to make illusionary organs for her." Hibari became genuinely interested now.

"That doesn't seem possible" he said, trying to dismiss that insane notion and get Tsuna back to the facts.

"It's true" Tsuna said, gulping and bracing himself for Hibari's reaction to what would come next. "Mukuro told me himself." Hibari's eyes shot open and flashed with murder. Tsuna flinched, but didn't try to run or defend himself. He knew Hibari wouldn't kill him just for giving him the straight truth. "When Chrome-chan gets injured in a fight and can't go on anymore, Mukuro replaces her somehow. Either he uses his illusion to preserve Chrome-chan or her completely takes her over to use his own power...it's hard to say. However, when he appeared I knew it was him. Wherever he really is in the world, he and Chrome-chan share a special link from their powers."

Hibari sighed. The information he had to take in was counter-productive to his intentions with it. "Ad our agreement" Hibari clarified irksomely "was that once I know this I have to stay away from her here on out..." Tsuna nodded. "That's unacceptable" Hibari said. Deep down, Tsuna's mind switched off the obvious danger of acting out in front of the killer man and he slammed his hands down on the table.

"You gave your word!" Tsuna shouted. Hibari glowered at him, his face refusing to break for his glare, and turned towards the door.

"I never said I'd break my promise" Hibari said. "I just mentioned that I wish I never made that promise. Mark this word though, Sawada-san" Hibari began, approaching the door. "If I ever have the opportunity, I will kill Mukuro. I don't care if the girl dies as well." With his piece said he left and closed the door behind him. Tsuna planted his head in his hands and sighed heavily.

"Wow, that was hard" he said to himself. "I never thought I'd get away with yelling at Hibari-san like that with all my bones intact. Heh-he. Hahaha..." Tsuna then began a rather insane chuckle that stopped when he heard a click at the door. Hibari had locked it out of random spite, not hearing Tsuna's mad little realization before.

"Cool your head" Hibari muttered, "Mafia boy." Tsuna just then realized that the door had been locked from the inside and he was left in the snow, the freezing cold snow, by Hibari.

"HELP!" Tsuna shouted, though it was greatly muffled by the wall and door that stood between him.

* * *

Although he could hear his friend's muffled screams for help, Yamamoto was too stunned to act. All the information he just overheard was daunting to him, it didn't make sense. _Chrome-chan..._ he thought in disbelief, _...so that explains it. What happened back at the Ring Tournament. And Tsuna standing up to Hibari-san...Could this mean...this is real?_ Yamamoto snapped out of his trance long enough to get up from Chrome's room and open the door to get Tsuna back in the house. He stumbled in, panting and freezing cold.

"It's" Tsuna started with chattering teeth, "really c-c-cold out th-there! Thanks, Yamamoto-kun." Yamamoto wasn't smiling in his usual, clueless way. In fact, he looked a little scared and maybe even mad for some reason as he stood in front of Tsuna. "Yamamoto-kun, are you okay?" Tsuna asked with his usual concern.

"Tsuna-kun" Yamamoto started distantly. "Can I talk to you quick?" Tsuna looked up at him, his concern growing into nervousness very quickly. The tension was thankfully broken when Haru came around the corner and shouted into the hall.

"There you are, Tsuna-san!" Both boys winced upon the unexpected blaring of the young woman's voice. Yamamoto resumed his nice-guy persona and turned around.

"He was locked outside by accident." Yamamoto explained. Haru marched over and grabbed Tsuna's hand, then pulled him along.

"We just keep losing you" she huffed playfully. "Now come downstairs! We're playing charades and Dino-san is losing really bad!"

"Actually" Tsuna said, breaking away from Haru, "Yamamoto-kun and I have something to talk about. Right?" He turned to Yamamoto who nodded, leaving Haru to walk back downstairs by herself.

"We'll be down right after we're done" Yamamoto promised.

_If I don't have a heart attack_ Tsuna added mentally. Yamamoto resumed his previous, uncharacteristic coldness once Haru was gone from sight completely. "Okay" Tsuna said, deciding that he could explain everything again if he concentrated, "where should I start?"

"How about the Mafia?" Yamamoto asked sternly. "This isn't a game...is it?" There was a shaking in his voice, which Tsuna had half-expected. Being inadvertently lied to all this time about the activities that everyone was always thrown in was a distressing thing to swallow.

"Well, unfortunately" Tsuna started regretfully, "Reborn isn't just a kid. He's a real hitman...and I'm not just his babysitter" he continued, "I'm a Mafia boss in training." Yamamoto got a cold shock through his head. His worst fear had been realized.

"Then" Yamamoto started, "what am I?"

"You're my friend!" Tsuna said unwaveringly. "I never intended to get pulled into this stuff, and I never wanted any of my friends in this either, but it couldn't be helped! No one else seems to see me as a kid, they see me as some miracle mobster. I never wanted this either, but now I can't turn back. Everyone's lives, one way or another, depend on me becoming the Vongola boss...Yamamoto-kun" Tsuna now began in apology, "I'm really sorry." Then, the unexpected. Yamamoto broke down and fell to his knees.

"Man" he started solemnly, "I'm a real idiot, aren't I?" Tsuna waved his hands to try and deject his claim, but deep down his nervous eyes agreed. "I probably should have picked up on this when Gokudera-kun kept talking about this like we were _in_ a Mafia family...heh. Hehehe. Whew!" Yamamoto crawled his way back up with a smile on his face. "So, what role do I get? Am I some kind of informant or messenger...?" Tsuna was stunned because Yamamoto was waiting for an honest answer about his position in the family. Before Tsuna worked up the gall to answer him, he had to ask a question.

"You're not mad or...anything?" Tsuna asked worriedly.

"No" Yamamoto said happily. "I can't be mad at you. You said you didn't even want this, and I was the one who ignored all the obvious signs. The best I can do now" he said, tilting his head up patriotically, "is find my place in the family and ride it out. Right?" Tsuna was still in a state of disbelief, but he shook out of it and addressed the earlier question that Yamamoto was pressing on him.

"...Assassin..." Tsuna said remorsefully.

"Well" Yamamoto started bashfully, "I guess I'll have to use the sharp side of my sword more often then, right?" Much to his surprise, Tsuna saw the same goofy and clueless smile on Yamamoto. He could only assume that he was alright with everything for now and nodded, bringing a smile back to his face as well. The boys shared a brief moment of peaceful laughter before they decided to head downstairs again...

* * *

"It's an animal of some kind" Bianchi guessed. Dino was making questionable gestures that seemed more like random dance moves or military signals to try and convey his effectively. "...or is it something metaphysical?"

"Is it a bear!?" Ryohei guessed. Dino's fingers were on his head and his arms made a sort of heart-shape around with his legs crossed at the shins. He had trouble staying balanced like that for long.

"Are you even signing anything right now?" Haru asked.

"It's a turtle" Reborn guessed. Dino broke his pose and tapped his nose.

"You always win at this, Reborn-san" Dino said in amazement. Everyone else was equally amazed by how easy the infant was able to pin-point the answer so quickly.

"Okay" Bianchi called. "Whose turn is it? Hayato-kun?" Gokudera was lounging on the sofa when he heard his name and shook his head.

"Oh, please Gokudera-kun" Kyoko pleaded. "You could be really good at this game."

"You can't be worse than Dino is" Reborn mentioned. Dino laughed it off, acknowledging his own poor skills.

"Come on, Gokudera-kun!" Yamamoto cheered, arriving in the room soon enough to know he was being called upon.

"Nah" Gokudera continued to brush off. "I'm not into childish party games like this..."

"Come on, Gokudera-kun" Tsuna now said. Upon hearing his boss's voice, he immediately shot up, grabbed a slip of paper and yelled his confidence out.

"Okay! For the boss, I'll do it!" Gokudera said, clenching his teeth hard. He read over the paper and began. It was one syllable, and sounded like whatever was on his head that he pointed to. While he did that, Yamamoto nudged Tsuna lightly and giggled, the Mafia aspect becoming what he saw as an inside joke between them. Tsuna laughed along nervously and nervously retreated into his mind.

_I'm not sure why _he thought, _but I feel like this whole Mafia thing has just gotten worse..._

"Is it a bear?" Chrome asked shyly. Gokudera's face sank down and he tapped his nose.

"Good job, Chrome-chan!" Yamamoto cheered. She smiled shyly while Gokudera huffed himself back to his seat. The cabin enjoyed the general company of Dino and his men, as well as the warmth of each other's compliments into the evening. Tomorrow would be their last day, and they decided that they would make the best of it no matter what.


	24. It's the last day What could happen?

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

The next day was bright and happy for the entire resort, even the Vongola cabin. The fresh snow from last night's blizzard helped to cover the bare spots made from the chaotic race the other day when the mystery hottie in the cow pattern shirt blazed down and evaporated half the race track. All the boarders and skiers got up extra early to reap the great, fresh powder for themselves. Of course, not all of the happy-go-lucky resort stayers had access to their own private slope like Dino did. Through him, the entire Vongola cabin got to enjoy their last day to themselves, away form all the other racers who still had it out for team 'Fighting Clams'.

"Check it out!" Yamamoto announced, fingering the brim of his new, felt fedora. "You like it?" Kyoko and Bianchi were looking at it appreciatively, with Tsuna gaping his mouth behind them.

"It's so cool, Yamamoto-kun" Kyoko appeased.

"I like it" Bianchi said analytically. "You wear it well."

"Thanks, Bianchi-san. What do you think, Tsuna-kun?" Yamamoto asked. Tsuna was pointing a shaky finger, astounded and dumb-struck over the obvious desperate attempt of Yamamoto's idea of Mafia-garb.

"It sure is" Gokudera said as he slowly glided past him. Gokudera was enjoying his last day of chaos-free snowboarding by doing just that: Snowboarding. Nothing else. Dino and his men had their own private chairlift that went at double the speed of the other more conventional chairlift in the valley. His skills went unrivaled in tricks, as he hit every available ramp that the Chiavorone slope had, and even the ones that Dino instructed to be built as he and his friends came down the slope. Spinning and kicking in mid-air, Gokudera flew down the mountain more than he slided.

"Lambo-san want to play too!" Lambo shouted enthusiastically, finally getting in the spirit of friendly, pointless snowboarding.

"Everyone prepare the stretcher" Reborn mocked at Lambo's expense. "The baby's going to race."

"Shut up, Reborn!" Lambo screamed. "I'll bet I'm a better skier than you!"

"I doubt it" Reborn said plainly. "How about a race?"

"FINE!" Lambo spat. They both evened up on each other and prepared to push off. Just as their race started, Lambo's board started careening dangerously into the trees. The toddler went screaming throug the woods until he finally hit a tree and shook off its snow.

"That wasn't even fun" Reborn complained, kicking his skis into a 180 and shooting a branch above Lambo. The branch broke and crashed down on the already crying boy, nearly knocking him out.

"...must...en...duuuure..." then, of course, Lambo went to sleep.

"Lambo-chan!" Haru screamed. She and I-pin went over to retrieve the little boy as Tsuna watched beside his other friends.

"Come on, Sawada-san!" Ryohei excitedly said, patting Tsuna hard on the back. "Let's catch up with octopus-boy."

"Eh, that's okay" Tsuna politely declined. "I still can't snowboard that we-" he stopped because he noticed that, in spite of his reluctance, he was slowly drifting downhill from Ryohei's pat. "Wait, no. Help! STOP!!" Tsuna's screams went shouted in vain, as he continued to careen down the hill, wobbling to and fro between the lumps of shuffled snow made by the earlier skiers.

"Come on!" Yamamoto cheered to Ryohei. Both boys departed at once, with Yamamoto closing quickly in front of the competitive Ryohei.

"Alright then" Ryohei said. "It's time for some EXTREME SPEED!" Ryohei whipped off his heavy winter sweater and leaned close to the ground, speeding up greatly until he hit a ramp. His scattered, imbalanced weight made him fly straight through the air and parabola nose-first into the soft snow. A Ryohei shaped hole with legs and arms pointed outward appeared soon after he landed.

"Oh, Onii-san" Kyoko said disappointedly, shaking her head and strapping on her skis to retrieve what was left of her brother. As Tsuna slowly wobbled past the hole he swore he could hear Ryohei shouting about how 'extreme' his crash was.

* * *

"Hey! Gokudera-kun!" Yamamoto's voice called out. Gokudera, who was just cruising along casually, looked back and saw him catching up behind him. Gokudera reluctantly nodded to him and tried to speed up. "Check out my hat!" Yamamoto continued. "You like it!?" Gokudera scowled and turned to him, noticing the hat and not getting whatever stupid joke he was attempting to make, but not caring whatsoever.

"Yeah" Gokudera said. "It's a hat, isn't it?"

"Yup!" Yamamoto said with a sneaky smile, "but what kind?" Gokudera just stared in silence, letting his board lift up and gently slam back down from a ramp he wasn't aware of.

"A...fedora?" Gokudera answered, still uneasy over what was going on.

"Yeah, and who wears fedoras?" Yamamoto asked now in a conclusive way.

"..." Gokudera decided to stop caring anymore and sped himself up over a ramp, flipping and spinning in the air all at once, then landing perfectly next to Yamamoto.

"The Mafia guys wear fedoras!" Yamamoto announced, pulling the brim of the hat down dramatically. Then, in an act of showmanship, he hit a ramp, spun around, landed backwards and repositioned himself gracefully without stumbling or falling at all.

"Uh-huh" Gokudera said dismissively. "What's that have to do with anything?" he asked, slowing his board down as Yamamoto edged in professionally.

"You know" Yamamoto said slyly. "Because we're in...the Mafia." Yamamoto was being unnecessarily shifty about saying the word Mafia and it was annoying Gokudera. Finally, he decided to just pull himself to a stop and held onto a low tree branch while Yamamoto glided in to do the same.

"Yeah, yeah. Ha ha, we're in the Mafia. I know" Gokudera said.

"Yeah, and I know too!" Yamamoto said happily, pulling his hat up again. "Tsuna-kun told me last night. We're a real mafia family!" Gokudera's eyes got more serious now. He looked up at Yamamoto, who was smiling his goofy, stupid smile like he always was.

"And you believed him?" Gokudera asked. Yamamoto nodded, still smiling of course.

"Why wouldn't I?" he replied. "He's our Godfather...or whatever he is."

"Boss!" Gokudera spat. "He's the 'Boss'. Where does your idea of the Mafia originate from, the movies?" Again, Yamamoto nodded innocently and Gokudera forced his hand up to his forehead.

"Tsuna-kun also said that I was supposed to be our family's hitman" he said in all seriousness. "What does that make you?" Gokudera looked at him and took a stick of dynamite from his pocket.

"I'm his right-hand man" Gokudera proudly said. "The second in charge, first before the boss! I'm the shield that protects him from bullets and the voice that calls out for him. I do whatever he needs me to do without a moment of hesitation."

"That's cool" Yamamoto replied, ignoring the dramatic tension Gokudera had made. "What's Reborn then?"

"You don't listen well, do you?" Gokudera lowed. "Reborn is the Ninth generation's master hitman. Reborn is feared by Mafia families around the world as a sure-fire killer...and he's training the Tenth to be a perfect boss in the future."

"Oh, that's cool" Yamamoto said simply, further pissing Gokudera off for not taking the subject seriously. "Then, who's everyone else?"

"Remember the rings we got?" Gokudera hissed. Yamamoto looked at his hand, on which he still wore the ring. "Those all represent our place in the Vongola family."

"Cool." Yamamoto's attitude prompted Gokudera to stick a cigarette in his mouth and light it to try and calm down.

"I told you" Ryohei shouted from just uphill, "NO SMOKING!!" Ryohei charged in, leaped off his snowboard, and tackled the cigarette right out of Gokudera's mouth and the lit lighter out of his hand. The force also pulled out a stick of dynamite that brushed past the flame of the lighter, catching the fuse at its tip before the stick spun into the snow. Yamamoto released his feet and walked over to the lit bomb.

"If the Mafia's real" Yamamoto started thoughtfully, "then I wonder if...Hey, Gokudera! Are these things real?" he asked, pointing to the dynamite. Gokudera coughed with Ryohei still on top of his, but was able to look up and yelp in terror.

"YES, IT IS!" he shouted. Yamamoto started to panic, tossing the dynamite from hand to hand, then gripping it in both hands firmly. "Get rid of it!" Gokudera ordered.

"Pitch it!" Ryohei shouted. The key word set off Yamamoto's pro-baseball mindset and he heaved the ball with all his force clear over the slope and just above the top of the mountain where the fuse depleted and the bomb exploded loudly. Bianchi, who was at the bottom, looked on up the hill in horror as the snow at the mountain peak began to shift.

"Oh, no" she muttered.

* * *

"Attention everyone" a voice over the resort PA system announced, "please remain calm and evacuate the mountain. This is an advanced avalanche warning. In the next ten-to-twenty minutes, an avalanche may occur. For your own safety, please proceed back to your cabins in an organized manner." The slopes were cleared within the first repeat of the automatic message. The Chiavorone hill was still speckled with the less-than innocent bystanders, but they were scrambling themselves to leave just the same.

"You moron!" Ryohei shouted, smacking Gokudera's head into the snow. "You just had to light that damn stick, DIDN'T YOU!?"

"You tackled me" Gokudera defended, "so it's your fault!"

"But I threw it" Yamamoto said, trying to bring peace. "It's my fault! I'm sorry!"

"We'll settle that later!" Bianchi chided. "We have to leave now!" Haru ran past her with Lambo cradled on her back and I-pin hanging onto her hood. The boys all hurried back down the slope as a deep rumbling started high up in the hill. Tsuna was with Dino, near the middle, trying to order and organize the Chiavorone men with Reborn.

"Please, Tsuna-kun" Dino started, "you have to leave!"

"I will" Tsuna said, staring down the hill with urgency. "I have to make sure everyone's safe first."

"They all seem to be" Reborn said, getting ready to push off and ski down to the base. "Let's go."

"Go!" Dino commanded. "I can handle my own men!" Tsuna nodded and pushed off, trying hard to keep steady. Snowboarding down a mountain that was expecting an avalanche didn't seem like a good idea to him, but it was faster than running and safer than taking a shaking chairlift. Reborn quickly sped on down, going past the large bumps and ramps that were built. Tsuna was trying hard to stay close behind and considered going into Hyper mode just in case. He put on his '27' gloves and acknowledged the pills in his coat pocket. As the rumbling intensified, he got ready to pull them out and jet away in desperation.

Tsuna looked back, seeing Dino and his men clear of the mountain, and then looked back in front. In the middle of the slope was a huddled body of pink and blue. Tsuna recognized who that coat belonged to in terror, slowing down as he approached the still moving person.

"Kyoko-chan!" Tsuna shouted to the girl crouched in the snow. "Come on, we have to go!"

"I can't!" she said, struggling further with her leg. "I'm stuck!" Tsuna noticed then that her boot was still attached to her board which was tangled with a frosty root of some kind that stuck out of the snow. Tsuna bent down to help when he heard an horrible noise. He glanced up, seeing a wall of snow staring him down as it rushed down the mountain side. Tsuna began to panic, trying to rip at Kyoko's brace desperately.

_Like it or not_ he thought to himself, _I'll have to use Hyper mode and burn the root off!_ Tsuna reached up for his pills, still pulling at Kyoko's leg, when her boot came unfastened and flew up, kicking the pills from his hand.

"Tsuna-kun!" she shouted over the roaring snow. Tsuna looked over, not seeing his pills, then back at her. She was on the verge of tears, and behind her was a large stone covered in snow that was used as a ramp. Without thinking, Tsuna grabbed Kyoko's hand and kicked off his own board.

"Come on!" he shouted. Kyoko screamed behind him as the snow came even closer. He raced, pushing all his strength and willpower into a final desperate rush to get to the rock before the snow swept them away. "DUCK!" he screamed over the roaring snow. He and Kyoko dived behind the rock just as the avalanche crashed into it and the snow rushed by like a tsunami wave.

Realizing that they were absent, Ryohei watched the avalanche from the back of a quick-moving transit snowmobile in utter horror. "Kyo..." he muttered. "KYOKO-CHAN! SAWADA-SAN!!"

"No way" Gokudera gawked, falling back into his seat. "They...didn't make it..."

"My god" Dino mumbled. "Tsuna-kun...is he...he can't be..."

"TSUNA-SAAAAAANN!!" Haru screamed in desperation, tears streaming down her face.

Yamamoto watched, letting the passing wind blow his fedora brim over his eyes, keeping his face stern but sad the whole time. The avalanche continued on the hill as the wails rang out for the lost Vongola boss and girl...


	25. The Frozen Winds of Desperation

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

The cabin doors blasted open. The frantic rushing of feet along with the wailing sobs of Haru woke Hibari upstairs from his nap, much to his own anger. Chrome was downstairs, watching television in the living room, and was the first to receive everyone.

"What's going on?" she timidly asked. Yamamoto breezed past her with a shade cast on his face from the grimly turned brim of his hat. "Haru, what's wrong?" she asked the bawling girl.

"Tsuna-san" she started quiveringly "and Kyoko-chan...got caught in the avalanche!" Chrome's eye shot open in fear.

"..." was her response.

"Oh, GOD!" Haru screamed. "They're dead!!"

"No they're not!" Bianchi shouted back. "They may still be alive. Just don't give up hope, no matter what!" Bianchi gripped Haru's wrists as she sobbed uncontrollably and ended up slapping her to calm her down. Haru snapped back from her sadness and started sniffling again. "We'll find them" Bianchi promised. Haru nodded, trying her hardest to crack a smile.

"Ryohei!" Gokudera roughly shouted from across the room. Ryohei nodded and a snow shovel flew through the air while Gokudera took off his jacket, letting it thud to the floor. He took up a shovel and they both started for the door.

"What goes on?" Hibari said from the steps, lazily wiping his eyes. "Why is it so loud dow-"

"Grab a shovel and get dressed!" Gokudera ordered on his way out, leaving only his shirt and determination to keep him heated. Hibari glared vehemently at the door, wondering why he should follow orders from some kid like him.

"Tsuna-kun and Kyoko-chan" Yamamoto started "got caught in the avalanche. I'm calling the ranger station."

"And they're going out with shovels?" Hibari questioned.

"I guess so" Yamamoto replied.

"We should do what we can" Reborn said, showing strange amounts of concern. "All of us need to move out and get stuff done. Yamamoto, you should call the manager as well." Yamamoto nodded as the line clicked to a voiced response. "Hibari, you go out with Dino and search."

"No" Hibari defiantly replied. "This has nothing to do with me. I won't waste time searching for a dead man..."

"Kyoya-san!" Dino shouted, standing up angrily. "You don't have much of a choice here. Your boss is gone! What will you do now?" Hibari's mind wandered back to the training he took with Dino, the rigorous time where he was taught about the rings, the mafia, and especially about Tsuna as his leader. Hibari sighed and turned around.

"If it's so important" he began to the weeping and tense mass, "then I'll go get dressed." Chrome glared at his back as it left with only a small tear in her eye.

"Okay" Yamamoto announced. "The rescue crew told us not to take drastic measures and they'll be here within an hour or so to search the mountain for Tsuna-san and Kyoko-chan..."

"It's a bit late for that then" Bianchi pointed out.

* * *

"RAAAAAAWR!" Ryohei bellowed. The tears in his eyes came only from the rush of adrenaline that forced his eyes to water as he moved. "Here I go! Super-fast-digging-to-find-Onee-chan-and-Sawada-san" and he paused to take a large breath in "EXTREEEEEME!"

"Just shut up and dig normally!" Gokduera shouted. While Ryohei's shouting got on his nerves a little, his almost instant digging to the grass was hugely impressive. He had already dug quite a few holes in the mountain side when Yamamoto arrived.

"Nothing" Ryohei grunted as he hit dirt. "I'll find them next time!" So he climbed up just as Yamamoto passed him by.

"Gokudera-kun!" Yamamoto shouted. Gokudera took a break from digging his modest little hole and turned to his very serious fellow guardian. "I called everyone I could. They all told us not to panic and not to go to unnecessary measures."

"It's a bit late for that" Gokudera said, taxing for breath. "You're right though. I just feel so useless now."

"It's not like this was your fault" Yamamoto said. Gokudera looked down at his half-dug hole solemnly, feeling the chill of the wind against his ill-protected chest.

"It sort of is" he admitted in lament. Yamamoto felt a need to say something, or do something to cheer his friend up. "They'll find him" Gokudera reminded himself sternly. "No matter what, they'll find him, and he'll be alright."

"They'll both be alright" Yamamoto added.

"EXTREME!!" Ryohei yelled a ways off.

"Let's get him" Yamamoto started "and get back to the cabin. We can try to help when they get here as much as we can." Yamamoto placed a hand on Gokudera's shoulder, and by some unknown coincidence, Gokudera was calmed instantly. He looked up and nodded, and the two boys went off together for the cabin.

"Kyoko-chan!" Ryohei shouted once more, shooting up large wads of heavy snow up the hill. "Sawada-san! Where are you!? YELL IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!"

"Oh right, him..." Gokudera grumbled. "Let's leave him here. He's doing a great job on his own."

"Alright" Yamamoto agreed. The left anyway, leaving Ryohei to dig desperately for Tsuna and Kyoko.

* * *

"Tsuna-kun" a soft voice cooed in the darkness, "...I'm scared..." The snow broke away, and in the lightless darkness a hand felt around for the provider of the voice.

"I'm scared too" a tender, warm voice replied. His hand continued outward, reaching through the narrow tunnel until it finally found hers. Kyoko, huddled over herself in the small cavernous hole made from the shelter of the rock, pulled her hardest and Tsuna came tumbling out of the wall in front of her.

"Gah!" he exclaimed, gasping for air. "It's still really dark!" Kyoko took the liberty of pulling back his hood, and now it wasn't dark. It wasn't bright either, but what light there illuminated Kyoko's face with a pale kind of blue coming from above. Tsuna was stunned for a moment, completely at her face's mercy, until he felt his legs give out. "I think there's snow in my pants!"

Kyoko helped him up onto his back and pulled him in. "You're covered in snow!" she noted. Tsuna coughed in the dry, icy air, trying to work some moisture in his mouth. Then he realized that there was moisture all around him.

"Now what?" Tsuna asked as he got up himself. His head hit the low roof of the cave he was in, which was surprisingly hard, and he reeled back down to his back slowly.

"It's quite hard" Kyoko informed him. "I managed to dig out the rock, though. I thought it'd be warmer."

"That was smart, Kyoko-chan" Tsuna complemented, rolling onto his stomach, feeling what was definitely snow roll about inside his jacket. He looked up at her, and she was biting her lip. Tears were forming in her tightly-shut eyes. Tsuna didn't question her distress, because he felt it too. He was crying too, but he didn't know it until the moisture reached his lips.

"Tsuna-kun..." she wept. "We're going to die...aren't we?" Tsuna didn't know how to gently answer her, but he knew he should try.

"Of course not" he replied, his voice unintentionally quivering. "We'll be fine here..." Of course, there wasn't any confidence in his voice. Kyoko grasped at herself and huddled over, stifling her sobs as best she could. Tsuna became swayed by her emotional reaction and tried to move in closer. The closer he edged in like a worm the more he _felt_ like a worm.

_What am I doing!?_ He demanded of himself. _Kyoko-chan and I just got caught in an avalanche. An AVALANCHE! I've only ever read about them for a report once, now I'm stuck in one? Furthermore, I'm alive!? And I was about to take advantage of Kyoko-chan too, wasn't I? Yeah, I was. When did this Mafia crap sink in so much that I became such a degenerate person. Kyoko-chan's just scared, and I was about to-_ But his thoughts stayed incomplete. His mind became blank. Kyoko lunged forward and started crying with her arms tightly around him.

"Tsuna-kun!" she sobbed into his chest. "I don't want to die!" Tsuna could feel her tears of despair dampening his coat. The cold snow and ice in it didn't matter to him anymore. So he took off his coat, shook out the snow and gave it to Kyoko, draping it on her back. Kyoko looked up but only saw the back of head next to hers, as Tsuna comforted her with a desperate hug, bitting back his tears futility.

"We'll get through this" Tsuna said confidently. "I promise Kyoko-chan...I'll make sure we get through this." His stern inflection, his determined voice, and his warmth all calmed her. Although her lips still quivered, she was able to relax into Tsuna's chest a little in their little hole.

"Tsuna-kun" she whispered, "thank you." Her soft voice was made loud by the tight walls of the hollowed out space.

* * *

"KYOOOKO-CHAAAAN!" Ryohei screamed. His shirt was now off and discarded upon a tree, the heat and moisture of his own manly sweat keeping him warm. That and early stages of hypothermia. "SAWADA-SAAAAAN!! I'LL FIND YOUUUUUU!!"

"Okay" Gokudera observed from a distance. "Now we should bring him in."

"Yeah" Yamamoto agreed. The rescue teams were only ten minutes away anyway, and Ryohei wasn't even digging up the right mountain anymore...


	26. The Chill that they may Never be Back

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

"Well now" Mario, the resort manager started, "what happened here?"

"It was an avalanche!" Haru shouted in distress. "All of a sudden, all this snow came down and it covered the mountain, and now our friends are still there and-and..." she would have gone on, but Bianchi made sure to walk her away before she started crying again.

"Our friends were caught in the avalanche earlier" Yamamoto explained. Mario had brought with him a rescue force, complete with dogs and sophisticated sonar equipment. Most of the team was there, at the Vongola's doorstep, but others had gotten a head start on the Chiavorone slope.

"Rest assured" Mario said calmly "if they're alive we will find them. The statistics of avalanches are fairly flimsy, after all. Some people are able to survive them if they are able to remain calm and collected and not try to tunnel out themselves."

"Is there anything we can do to help!?" Yamamoto demanded urgently. Mario turned to the leader of the rescue team with him, and he nodded.

"There is something" the team leader said "that you can do. We can always use more hands to use the equipment. Consider yourself a volunteer avalanche rescue force ranger!"

"That's a cheesy title" Yamamoto said under his breath. Now that he was in the mafia, something that was so apparently childish didn't register with him anymore.

"What about me?" Gokudera asked, already geared up with his coat and boots on.

"Sure thing" the rescue leader said. He reached over to his snowmobile and retrieved two temporary 'Volunteer' badges for the boys. "Wear these while your helping us or we may get you kicked off the grounds."

"The entire mountain side will be restricted" Mario said "so no one else but the rescue team can search."

"Well, it's my mountain" Dino said from the couch. "Maybe I should help out as well."

"Anyone is welcome to help" the ranger leader said. He went to get another badge, but when he returned Dino had an entire fleet of his own men standing at attention.

"You'll need a lot more badges for me" Dino slyly marked. Gokudera lit a cigarette in his mouth and glared ahead through the trees to the barely-visible side of the slope.

_Stay alive, 10th!_ He thought with great determination. _No matter what, I won't give up until you're found!_

"By the way" Mario began, "where is that violent boy with the evil eyes at? Isn't he going to help?"

"You mean Hibari-san?" Yamamoto asked. "I don't think he wants to help that bad..."

"What!?" The rescue leader gasped.

"He's not," Yamamoto hesitantly said, pausing to think of the proper wording, "He's not a real sociable guy..."

* * *

Up on the balcony, Chrome looked over the frozen lake to the misshapen hillside where Tsuna had disappeared. She was aware but ignorant of Hibari's sudden presence behind her.

"Shouldn't you help?" Hibari asked. Chrome turned her blinded eye to him. "Your boss?" He was staring her down, like he was trying to force something out of her. She knew what his intentions really were, but glaring at her wouldn't make her summon Mukuro so blatantly.

"Shouldn't you?" Chrome rebutted. "He's your boss too."

"No he's not" Hibari said, moving closer. "I have no affiliation with this stupid Mafia business...nor do I have any intention of joining this 'family'. If I want to get involved with the Mafia then I'll make my own." His sternness, and his serious tone, made his aside sound like a threat of war to the Vongola.

"You wouldn't win anyway" Chrome told him. A frozen wind snapped by, then the whiz of steel through the air. Hibari's tonfas were held at bay by Chrome's trident, pointed at his face. "If you fought us, there's no way you'd win..." Hibari glared down at her, murder building at a distance in his eyes.

"Whatever" he said. "Maybe I wouldn't fight with you" he raised up a hand and lowered the spear slowly. "Maybe I'd just do whatever I wanted."

"Then you _are_ in our family" Chrome said. He glanced at her, but only caught the black patch over her eye when he tried to make a threatening stare down. "You are the cloud that drifts as it pleases, and can't be tethered down. You doing whatever you please is your purpose in the family..."

"...and you" Hibari said. "You're the mist, correct?"

"Yes" she answered.

"The deceiver" Hibari said, his words ringing harshly in Chrome's ears. "You are a living, walking lie that takes whatever form it pleases, not caring for anyone and doing wrong things when others aren't looking."

"...no" Chrome softly replied. "I'm the one that can't be caught or seen...the one that no one can predict..." There was a silence. The talk of roles had received a war-like tone. Hibari straightened his spine and tilted back his head, still staring down the girl. Chrome stood still, clutching her spear behind her. Then, she released with one hand. Hibari anticipated a stab but got slapped in the face instead. He was tunned for a moment, the move he didn't see coming at all, from the flustered and tearing girl. "We're all together in this" she sternly said. "We both have our roles to play, but you're to stubborn to acknowledge that!" Hibari took a step back, expecting still another illusionary assault. "Don't talk to me about duty when you're not doing anything at all."

And with her huff she walked off. Right past Hibari and back into the cabin, storming through the halls and making her spear vanish behind her. Hibari stood in silence for a bit, and considered his moves...at last, about a half-hour later, he arrived at the base of the mountain with a shovel draped over his shoulders.

"Hey!" on of the rescue team men shouted to him. "You can't be here! This is a delicate operation that's restricted to civilian-" Hibari gave him a death stare to shut him up.

"I'm here to help" Hibari growled. "Not because I have to, but because I want to..." So he walked off, through the taped boundaries and onto the lumpy snow-covered mountain base where he started digging hastily.

_If anyone's going to kill you_ Hinari internally muttered, _it will be me for inadvertently thrusting me into this stupid, mixed-up Mafia world of yours!_

* * *

Down in the icy cavern, Tsuna and Kyoko stayed huddled together against the rock for warmth. Tsuna kept his own back against the rock, which was still warmer than ice and snow, and Kyoko sat just in front of him, both of them staring grimly ahead at the motionless snow wall.

"Is it getting colder?" Kyoko asked softly.

"I don't think so" Tsuna replied. "In fact, I'm getting warm." His brow was getting moist and his eyes were getting a bit heavy, but he didn't see it as anything to worry about.

"NO!" Kyoko suddenly shouted. The sound reverberated on the walls and jolted Tsuna's head back against the rock. Now he was cold with head trauma again. "You may be getting hypothermia!"

"Gack!" Tsuna gasped. "Wh-wh-what do I do!?"

"Just stay calm!" Kyoko said urgently.

"OKAY!" Tsuna squealed. He didn't want to admit it, but Kyoko wasn't good at calming someone down in a situation like this. Then again, the only person she ever had to worry about like this lately was her own brother, and he didn't know the meaning of the word 'calm'. Kyoko decided to help more by feeling Tsuna's head.

"Wow" she remarked. "You're really warm, Tsuna-kun."

"I know" he replied. "I think the cramped space is helping with that. Are you okay Kyoko-chan? You're not numb are you?" She shook her head.

"I'm fine" she said with a smile. It was very feint, with little light to show any detailed features between either of them. "You coat's keeping me warm."

"Glad I could help" Tsuna said. She pulled his coat over her shoulders more and leaned against him. He was warm even through his shirt, so she snuggled in closer. Tsuna was stunned, his spiky hair standing on end.

_EEK!_ Tsuna thought. _What's she doing!?_

"I'm glad you're here, Tsuna-kun" she said in the darkness. Tsuna snapped back and looked down at her, keeping his hands away from her. "I wouldn't be able to survive this without you..." Tsuna felt surprised. He never expected Kyoko to say that of him, or even anyone outside of his Mafia family. Tsuna's hands began moving on their own, closing slowly around Kyoko's back and cradling her closer.

"I'm glad I'm here too..." Tsuna said. Now they were both warm, even with the several feet of ice and snow around them, and although they both eared for their lives they seemed to be happy.

"Whatever you do" Kyoko said, "don't fall asleep."

"Why not?" Tsuna said very tiredly.

"You could freeze" she explained. "If you stay awake you body will generate more heat and you won't get frostbite on your hands and feet..." Her calm demeanor towards life-threatening matters made Tsuna question himself.

"That's good to know" he said nervously, now attentive and completely awake, lest his hands and feet fall off from the cold...

* * *

"GYUHAHAHAH!" Lambo shrieked with laughter. He ran all throughout the cabin, running in and out of rooms like the manic little run away bull he was. "Tsuuunaaa-kun!" he called. "Come on out now! Lambo wants a turn to hide!" He ran downstairs and circled around the chair that sobbing Haru sat in, her face in her hands. "Haru-chaaan! Where's Tsuna-kun?"

Haru quit sobbing a bit and wiped her eyes. She caught the cowboy as he circled around her chair again and set him on her lap. "Tsuna-san and Kyoko-chan are...missing" she explained. Lambo innocently picked his nose in response. "They aren't here anymore...and they may not come back...all we can do is hope for the best while everyone else tries to find them..."

"Well they won't" Lambo brashly said, upsetting Haru. "Tsuna-san is really good at hide-and-seek. I bet Kyoko-chan is out looking for him too, but she just got lost...

"Lambo..." Haru began, her voice quivering severely. "Maybe you should play outside for a bit." She set him down and trailed back off to tears. Lambo put on his little scarf and went outside as per Haru's instruction, then had a rare moment of deep insight.

"Hmm...if Lambo-san right now can't find Tsuna, maybe Lambo-san from the future already knows where he is! Yeah!" And to his flawed idea, Lambo ran off guffawing down the path, searching his artillery afro for his bazooka so he could find Tsuna with his future self's knowledge.


	27. The Endless Resolve that is Vongola!

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

The Vongola guardians continued to dig, scattering themselves out between the other rescue operators and resort personnel. Gokudera dug with his own ferocious spirit and tenacity, unwanting and unable to give up. He knew, instinctively, that his boss was alive under the feet and feet of snow, and he would not stop until he was found. He shoveled away at nearly double the pace of the surrounding crewmen, throwing snow into the holes he already dug and leaving his mounds well marked. That his the power of the Storm Guardian, the power to blow away everything for the sake of his family!

"Come on arms..." Gokudera grunted. "Move faster!"

"It's hard work, eh?" a cool, deep voice said to his right. Gokudera looked over to future Lambo, digging away, and surprising Gokudera near a heart attack. "Just keep it up, Gokudera-san. I believe in you!" And so the power of the Thunder Guardian is shown, as the shovel in his hand slices through the sheets of packed snow and ice like a heated knife through butter. The electricity heating the metal and powering his digging, along with his total random appearance, Lambo emanated with the energy of Lightning.

"Oi, you stupid cow!" Gokudera chided. "Go dig somewhere else! We have to spread our efforts."

"Oh, right!" Lambo said. "I'll go over here." So he walked off and struck elsewhere.

"UWAAAAAHHH!!!!" Ryohei's voice carried over the bumpy slope and craggy mountains. His cries of anger and excitement inspired a shining confidence in all those around hi,. Wherever he dug, a crater formed with his grassy-spots at the center and the other workers keeping pace with him. His brilliant determination is the power of the Sun Guardian, which brightens everything. "Kyoko-chan, just wait a bit longer! I swear I'll find you!"

"What spirit" one of the onlooking diggers said. "He's trying harder than all of us put together!"

"Well that's no good!" another worker said. "We get paid by the cubic foot today! Come on!"

"Yeah!" another worker chimed in. "The leader said the team that finds them gets a huge bonus! Dig faster! Harder than anyone else!" And with their battle-shouts chained together, the entire section of the mountain was louder and had deeper holes than every other part of the mountain. The other teams were embarrassed to be working as hard as they were except for one.

"Don't worry, Tsuna-kun" Yamamoto said under his breath. "I won't let your Mafia dissolve so easily! I'm really pumped to be in this family now, and I won't get drummed out this early. I promise you that none of us will give up!" Yamamoto's group, everyone digging around him, was calm and determined. Such is the power of the Rain Guardian, to wash away all the obstacles, all the worry and stress, and bring tranquility to everyone.

"Come on men, dig!" the leader shouted from uphill. "I know it's hard work but we can't give up! That young man and girl won't wait for us forever!" Near him, Hibari dug silently. He had removed his heavier jacket and was wearing it on his shoulders, as he often does. He only dug until he reached the uniformly packed snow, the snow that seemed more stable than the avalanche debris.

_This is getting us nowhere_ Hibari noted. _We need some more powerful tools to make any headway..._ and that's when the snowmobile of powered shovels and sonar equipment passed him by, going up. Hibari glared at it, making a mental note of the positions of the others on the mountain. The rest of the Vongolas, along with the annoying cow-shirt man, were in the middle of the mountain. Hibari quickly fitted the pieces together and directed his realization to the rescue team leader.

"Hey" Hibari shouted "I think we're digging to far up."

"How would you know?" the leader asked.

"Those four" he said, pointing down to the other digging Vongolas, "were here when the avalanche happened. They should know approximately where we should be looking..."

"Listen" the leader said defensively. "I have a job to do, and you don't have to be a part of it. Just keep to yourself and keep digging where I tel you to dig. Got it!?" Hibari leaned back, as the leader was being far to personal. When he turned back to work, Hibari saw that his face became blurred. He could feel a heaviness in the air. His intuition that was triggered by a familiar hatred started clicking the gears in his head.

Then he saw it: the lack of progress all around him. More than half the workers were made up of illusions. They weren't even there. That's why nothing was happening, nearly no one but volunteers were working. That's when Hibari, the Cloud that floats freely, dropped his shovel and walked along the tracks of a snowmobile. The Mist energy was resonating even stronger up at the top of the slope, where a 'crew' of investigators speculated the cause of the avalanche...

* * *

"It's very unfortunate" Mario said. He sat in the cabin with Reborn, Bianchi and Haru in the living room. "You must miss your friends terribly." Haru sniffled and nodded. "Worry not. The team I have called is the best in the region. If they're alive then we will find them."

"Hey Mario" Reborn said, "what happened to you lip?" Mario glared over at the baby. His lip looked fine, but Reborn noticed something the others obviously didn't. "Did you run into a door? Or some metal pole by mistake?"

"Rebo-kun" Bianchi cooed concernedly. "I'm going to take Haru and I-pin out to help..."

"That's fine" Reborn said. The girls left the men alone to talk. Once the door closed Reborn started up. "Hibari did that to you, didn't he?" Mario's eyes shot open with rage. He shot up to his feet and aimed a gun down at the infant. "He's a wild one, that Hibari-kun."

"You know that you've failed" Mario scorned. "All that delinquent did was rough me up, he didn't do any permenant damage."

"Are you sure?" Reborn joked, sipping from his cup of tea. "Taking on the Vongola when we're all together like this is a pretty foolish thing to do. He must've hit you pretty hard after all."

"Hmph" Mario huffed, adjusting his glasses. He eliminated his mist illusion and revealed the puffing wounds and bruises that were bandaged and stitched on his face. "Say what you like, but you know that I've won. The moment I knew the 10th generation Vongola was coming here I was ready. After the stupid setbacks that your imbecilic family has caused, I have finally got them all in total vulnerability! They're all out there, exposed to my legions of warriors and killers! Not one of you will leave this mountain alive!" Reborn kept his serious demeanor, the shadow of his hat darkening his already black little eyes. Mario started widening his evil grin and his sparkling eyes to try and intimidate the infamous hitman. In a flash, however, Reborn had a gun to Mario's head and was standing on his own arm.

"The Vongola family can't be intimidated" Reborn said. "And you can't win. As soon as your little toy soldiers move out-"

"Huhahahaha!" Mario cackled madly. Reborn glared down at his crazy, beaten face with a mild concern. "That's the beauty of it!" he said. "I've made sure they won't be able to fight effectively! They'll be spread out all across the mountain, and my men can overwhelm them at their leisure! They're just kids after all! Huahah---" Then, his face froze in mid-laugh. His body became stiff and he fell over. Upon hitting the floor, he was limp and unconscious, his eyes twitching about as if he were dreaming. Reborn hopped onto the couch and looked over. A dark figure darted away from his vision on the stairwell and Reborn smiled.

_It was a trap!_ Chrome exclaimed to herself. _That guy was really trying to get rid of the boss! Now that I know, I have to go out and help. I need a coat!_ As she went back downstairs silently, a coat was floating beside her. Without thinking, she plucked it from the air and became afraid. She looked over at whatever ghostly coat-rack had propped her coat up so hastily and saw an infant, Reborn. "Re-Reborn-san!" she stuttered. "I..uh...walk going! I..." Reborn nodded with a mysterious smile on his face, and she slipped away quickly. As she went running out towards the mountain, Reborn watched from the window.

"You have a strong family, Tsuna-kun" Reborn said. "Let's hope, for their sake, you can be strong as well..."

* * *

"Ugh, Kyoko-chan" Tsuna moaned, "I think I'm falling asleep..."

"No!" she screamed. "You're not allowed to die!" She faced him with stern eye, took off her warm glove and started slapping his face rapidly. Tsuna's cheeks limply flew from one side to the other as Kyoko beat him stupid to keep him awake. "Stay awake, Tsuna-kun!" Her voice shook in time with her slaps, and Tsuna tried weakly to stop her. His face was nice and red now.

"Kyoko-chan! Stop, please!" he pleaded. "I'm okay now."

"Are you sure?" she asked. It was dark, so she couldn't see how bad she had puffed his cheeks, but not dark enough for Tsuna to nod. "Don't scare me like that again!" she cried. "You're the last person I want to lose!" Tsuna's eyes opened for a bit. Kyoko froze up in her kneeling stance upon realizing what an embarrassing thing she had said. "Err..."

"Uh..." Tsuna grunted back. The cold air turned hot with awkward tension brought about by the youngsters. Kyoko had unknowingly admitted a great personal truth in her desperate state and Tsuna was unprepared to receive it.

"Well, what I meant was..." she tried to stutter.

"Yeah, it's a misunderstanding!" Tsuna finished for her.

"Yeah!" Kyoko said.

"I understand" Tsuna chuckled. The nervousness didn't quite leave the air yet, though. Tsuna stayed silent, not wanting to embarrass either of them further, but offered his arms to her lazily. Kyoko crawled over to him and nestled into his chest. She was scared, and shivered while she wrapped her own arms around his back. Tsuna was just about ready to drift off into a drooling sleep again when he heard Kyoko moan pleasantly.

"Tsuna-kun..." she mumbled. Tsuna looked over at her and blinked. Then again, he blinked, but his eyes stayed down longer. Desperate not to fall asleep, Tsuna forced his eyes open again. The cave was getting brighter all the time, his vision adjusting to the complete darkness easily. His mittens became warmer, as if someone turned on an oven that his hands were in.

_Oh no_ Tsuna thought with worry. _I must be getting hypothermia. I'm starting to feel hot all of a sudden. Dammit! This isn't right! I don't want to die, but I don't want Kyoko-chan do die even more! If only I could get us out...but my pills..._ "Ugh..." Tsuna moaned. His eyes closed. His vision was getting to blurry anyway.

"Tsuna-kun..." Kyoko cooed, "...you're so warm..." Tsuna parted his eyes a bit, wanting to respond with his own worry for her state of health, but his vision was still to frazzled. His mittens didn't even look right anymore. They crackled with a bright, orange energy familiar to his Hyper mode, and he could feel the tingling sensation on his forehead...

"Ah!" Tsuna gasped. He lifted his hands from Kyoko's back slowly, looking down on his battle-gloves. The X-Gloves. He raised one up to his forehead and it caught fire with his Dying Will flame. _I...I'm in Dying Will mode!?_ He heard Kyoko moan happily again as she snuggled up to him, embracing him tight. Tsuna looked at the back of her head, then sternly affixed his gaze to the snow ceiling above him.

"Hold on, Kyoko-chan" he whispered, "I'll save you yet!" She didn't answer. She had fallen asleep from the warmth of Tsuna's concern. His state of being had changed. He no longer had an impressionable fear about him. His air was warm, courageous, even crazy with power! The power to shine down and cover everything, the force that conquers everyone, Tsuna the Sky Guardian, leader of the Vongola. Blazing with drive and adrenaline, Tsuna took his right glove and clenched his fingers around his forehead flame...


	28. The Dying Will of Tsunayoshi Sawada!

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

"Oi, Lambo" Gokudera grunted as he continued to dig. Lambo looked over at him. "How long do you have here?"

"Shouldn't be long" Lambo answered. "I've been here for a bit. Let me check, it should be time right about..." he looked at his watch, expecting to get poofed back soon after, but he was stunned. It was nearly a quarter after the hour, ten minutes after he had changed. Time had ignored him and kept him in the past far longer than he should be! "Gah!" Lambo groaned, letting his mouth drop open.

"What's wrong!?" Gokudera shouted.

"I-" Lambo started, but couldn't finish. Gokudera took his wrist forcibly and looked at the watch.

"Has it really only been that long?" Gokudera mused. Then, it hit him, that Lambo had really been there far past his time, and his jaw dropped too. Yamamoto noticed how shocked the boys seemed to be and bothered to trek overt to them.

"Hey guys" Yamamoto called, "what's wrong?"

"It's him!" Gokudera shouted, pointing at the dazed Lambo. "He's stuck here for no reason from the future!"

"What?" Yamamoto asked. "Isn't that just Lambo-kun's brother?"

"Ah" Lambo shakily whined, "that's not quite true, Yamamoto-san. I am Lambo."

"The bazooka he uses" Gokudera explained "is a weapon that replaces whoever it shoots with themselves ten years into the future."

"So, this" Yamamoto began "is ten-years older Lambo?" There was a pause. Lambo nodded at length, not wanting to disrupt the fragile innocence of his friend in the past who had no idea of the Mafia yet. "Huh." Yamamoto grunted affirmatively. "Well, then you can help us dig a little longer, right?"

"Does nothing faze you!?" Gokudera growled.

"You" Lambo hesitantly started, "you're right. I am a member of this family, and so long as I am here for whatever reason I may be here, I shall help however I can!" So he pulled from his pockets his horns and clicked them in place on his head. "**Thunder SET!**" A crackle of static lightning came from nowhere and landed on his head. His horns shone out with the massive energy, brightening the already white ground. Most of the workers were blown to their feet in shock and left bewildered at the man who was on fire with electricity. "Hang on, young Vongola and Kyoko-chan. I shall find you!" Lambo dug his feet into the snow and reeled back. "_Electro Cornata!_" And with a smashing headbutt to the snow, he evaporated a huge crater worth of powdery snow. The steam shot up in a geyser that blew Yamamoto and Gokudera away.

"What happened!?" Gokudera shouted.

"Curses!" Lambo shouted from the center of the crater, shaking and crackling with excess static. "They aren't here. But fear not, for I shall not give up! **Thunder SET!**" The lightning came again and Lambo staggered full force into another wall of snow. He roared as he ran forward, blowing away yet another chunk of the mountain in a rising cloud of steam and burning the grass below him.

"I'm not gonna let him upstage me!" Gokudera shouted. His furious Storm-like intent drove him to dig at double speed and with four times the force as before. He dug away from Lambo who kept on through the pain of getting hit by lightning repeatedly, who also rammed in the direction away from Yamamoto.

_That's odd_ Yamamoto though, standing in an open area with his shovel in hand. _Did it just get...warmer somehow?_ His back felt like it was inches from a fire all of a sudden. He turned to see why, expecting the sun, but saw only the sky.

* * *

While all this happened, Hibari reached the crest of the mountain and confronted the 'workers' at the top.

"Excuse me" he called out. No one turned to face him, they all just went about their fake work. Many of them were indeed misty illusions, but he did see some normal people working among them. "I believe you're digging in the wrong spot." Only a few real people glanced at him apathetically. They didn't act so differently from the fake ones anyway.

"Sorry kid" one of the illusions said, "but we have our orders. Scan the mountain from top to bottom, in that order." Hibari got a vein in his head from the word 'kid', but granted that he couldn't do anything about it against an illusion, he let is slid.

"Yeah" a real worker said, using some electronic tool on the snow. "You're just a volunteer anyway. Let us professional rescuers handle the tough stuff, huh?" Now Hibari was justifiably angry.

"Is there a problem up here, Hibari-san?" an annoyingly familiar voice said from behind. "I thought you were digging with the other?" It was Dino, showing his concern by holding a can of soda in his hand. Hibari glared at him in angry disbelief, thinking that he couldn't possibly be the only one who was aware of the mist illusions that ran around everywhere.

"These _men_" Hibari reported "aren't cooperating properly. They're routing resources away from the main digging site downhill."

"Hey!" a rude illusion shouted, "we're doing our jobs! You go and do yours, okay!?" Hibari urged Dino to look at them, glancing over his shoulder and snapping his head a little. Dino stared down the workers, but returned empty-eyed.

"Sorry to bother you, then!" Dino called. He took Hibari by the arm, to his immense spite, and led him away. Then he threw the can over his shoulder.

"I will bite you to death" Hibari growled. "You know that, right?"

"Don't underestimate me, Kyoya-kun" Dino said. Hibari looked at his suddenly serious face and, in an instant, had his opinion explosively changed. The can was really some kind of light bomb that dissolved the mist illusions all over the mountain. Unfortunately, it also dissolved the mist camouflage being used by the undercover agents in the bordering woods. Once they noticed their camo was gone, they retreated. "Stay on guard!" Dino shouted, pulling out his whip. Reluctantly, Hibari retrieved his tonfas and went back-to-back with Dino. Out of nowhere a fleet of men in all-black armor appeared around them.

"Give up, Vongola" one said from a robotic voice-box. "Without a leader, you are at a severe disadvantage."

"Who needs Tsunayoshi Sawada?" Hibari asked. "I have enough death to deal all of you..."

"Don't get to cocky, Kyoya-kun" Dino warned. His men came up from the snow under them and armed themselves with guns aiming and knives ready. "These guys aren't just normal soldiers. They're an experimental type of androi-" Hibari ignored the coming lecture and took the preemptive strike, smashing apart one of the robots bodies with a single blow. The loose mechanics and metallic shrapnel flew out and sank into the snow. He quickly turned around and glared down the rest of the line, Dino staring at him with a gaping mouth.

"Whatever these things are" Hibari said, raising up an arm in threat, "I will bite them to death."

"Illogical" one called robotically. "You have not the tensile strength to bite through our metallic armored ski-" another solid blow, this time blowing away the silicon brain material into another head. Dino noticed that the ring he wore around his finger was glowing, an ominous sign that unsettled his stomach. Then, it happened. A rumbling roar from downhill. A spiraling pillar of orange shooting out and flaring off in the distance!

* * *

_Don't worry, Kyoko-chan!_ Tsuna thought with great desperation. _I'll save you..no matter what!_ Tsuna released his grip from her snuggled shoulder and used both his hands to gather and conglomerate a flame in front of him. The light started to dimly return inside the cave, and some snow started to melt. As it splashed down on his face, Tsuna came to realize the effects of his power. _No! I'm using up all the oxygen using my flame! I have to make this shot count or I'll...Kyoko-chan might not make...it..._ Things began to slowly dim again. Sleep started to grip him.

His arms fell limp beside him, making a steamy hiss as they did. Tsuna struggled with his deepest mental state to stay awake, but he knew it would work long. With Kyoko on top of him he was warm, and with the confined space circulating the heat from his flame the temperature was spiking dangerously. Tsuna was about done, ready to give up, but he felt his clothes get tighter.

"Tsuna-kun" Kyoko drowsily cooed, "it's so hot..." Tsuna looked at her over his shoulder, a felt the flame returning to him. "Please turn down the heat. I can't sleep..." Tsuna drowned the flame in his hand and scooped up a wad of snow in his X-Glove. He dabbed it onto Kyoko's head, and she made pleasant sounds again. However, he could hear them fading into exhaustion. They were both breathing faster, and deeper, in response to the thinning air.

_No..._ Tsuna weakly thought. _I can't give up...no matter what. I have to...I..._ He could feel something cold start to grip at his insides. He heard a rhythmic beating start to slow down. It sounded like his own heart, but his chest was warm. Then his eyes went open. He heard Kyoko stop breathing. His flame picked up instantly and scorched the rock at his back. His body moved without consolation of his mind, shooting both hands forward as a twister of fire gathered. The flames of his hands and his head all spiraled into each other and shot forward, pushing him back into the rock and cracking it!

"Gah!" Yamamoto shouted. He was almost directly next to the flame as it roared out from the snow. He was right at least, on the area of where he was looking. A tunneling stream of orange fire kept on shooting out from under the snow, and everyone watched it. Gokudera nearly cried, he was so happy. Ryohei was almost directly under the fireball that came out, blazing over him, as he braced himself in the loose snow.

_What the hell!?_ Ryohei thought. Lambo watched it from his mushy crater and stumbled down to his back.

"Well" Lambo mused, panting, "that was easy, at least."

And down at the cabin, Reborn watched form the roof with a smile on his face.

"That's very good, Tsuna" he said. "A few years of training and you won't even need the pills anymore. Just remember what it felt like..." and as the mountain rumbled, the true efforts of everyone's plans came forth. Out of the white-hot steam walked Tsuna, with Kyoko draped safely in his arms. His glowing orange eyes blazed on through with his raw, determined shine.

_No matter what_ echoed Tsuna, _I'll protect you..._


	29. The Aftermath of the Fight on MtPhoenix

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

_Sawada!?_ Hibari growled internally.

"About time, Tsuna-san!" Dino shouted. He and Hibari kept up their strength as they fought off the attacking robots. Quickly destroying their heads seemed to leave them motionless. Hibari destroyed them form head to mechanical toe anyway.

"What's he doing now?" Hibari hissed. "Trying to save us?"

"You will not succeed!" a robot shouted. "We will---" Hibari just shattered its head and kicked it away.

"Watch yourself, Kyoya-kun" Dino said, much to Hibari's evident spite. "Don't overpower your ring."

"I'll be fine" Hibari defended, spiking a blast of power from his ring into his tonfa and smashing a robot clean in half with a single strike. "I just wish these things weren't all mechanical. It's only fun when my enemies bleed."

"Allow us to fix that" a harsh voice said. Many troops wielding automatics and geared in mist-augmented military uniforms appeared. A light glow of mist energy was around them. Hibari scowled deep that he wasn't able to sense it earlier.

"Damn" Dino cursed. "We're outgunned."

"We're not outpowered" Hibari growled.

"Give it up, Kyoya-kun" Dino ordered. Hibari's eyes went wide with murder. "We can't fight them back now..."

"Put you weapons down" the soldiers ordered. "You, boy, remove your ring and place it on the ground in front of you." Hibari glared down the soldier for a moment, drawing out as much time as possible, but the gun sights were visibly locked on him, not Dino. Hibari slowly reached for his ring...

"Onii-san" Tsuna said. Ryohei looked up at Tsuna with total awe and noticed his sister in his arms. Tsuna held her out and Ryohei's mind clicked and he held his arms out to receive her. Tsuna carefully, slowly placed Kyoko in the arms of her brother. "Take her back to the cabin" Tsuna said. "Make sure she gets medical attention." Ryohei's eyes started to for tears. He jerked, clenched his teeth and nodded. Ryohei went sprinting down the hill, ignoring the illusions that leaped out at him to stop, and headed for the cabin.

"Boss!" Gokudera shouted with relief. Tsuna turned, still crackling with his flame, to his thankful guardians. Gokudera and Yamamoto were right there, ready to greet him and say how glad they were that he was alive, and even Lambo managed to crawl up and see him.

"Hello, Young Vongola" Lambo greeted.

"Lambo-san" Tsuna said astonished. "How long have you been here?"

"Longer than normal..." Lambo answered. "You're safe now, so I should be gone anytime..." Tsuna smiled down at him, and he even began to laugh a bit, but something stopped him. His Hyper Intuition sounded off with a roar, and he instinctively darted his head skyward. Up on the top of the mountain was Hibari and Dino, surrounded by soldiers. Tsuna furrowed his brows and let his eyes shimmer. His gloves ignited and started roaring with a jet of flames that pushed him into a hover.

"Gokudera-kun! Yamamoto-kun!" he ordered. "Hibari-san is in trouble up there!"

"Hibari-san!?" Gokudera shouted in disbelief. "How? He's-"

"We need to help him!" Yamamoto shouted. From under his coat he unsheathed his special bamboo sword, swung it, and wielded the perfect version of his Shigure Souen sword. "Let's go!"

"He'll probably end up killing us for helping.." Gokudera said, pulling out sticks of low-grade avalanche-proof dynamite, "but we can live another day!"

"Lambo-san!" Tsuna shouted once more. "Get to safety, and make sure everyone's alright back in the cabin." Lambo nodded and tried his hardest to endure the pain and run back to the cabin. "Let's go..." Tsuna ordered. He blasted forward, a dazzling jet that could be seen from down the mountain side and back.

_What's he doing...?_ Hibari growled to himself.

"Three unknown targets approaching" a robot reported mechanically.

"Grr" the lead soldier growled. "I've had it with you Vongolas! Open fire ASA-" he would have said P, but the force and speed of the Rain was far to great for him.

"_Shajiku no Ame!_" shouted Yamamoto, the first offensive form of his deadly Shigure Souen style! The lead soldier slowly fell as many glimmering orbs came into scene of the rest of the soldiers. They were bombs.

"Light 'em, Boss!" Gokudera shouted. From the sky, Tsuna swooped down, catching Hibari, Dino and his men while lighting all the bombs at the same time. A short distance away, they stopped and all the bombs exploded on the line of guards. "Yeah!" Gokudera celebrated.

"Sawada-san" Hibari growled. "You shouldn't butt into others busine-" Tsuna interrupted him with the Cloud ring, held out in front like a tempting treasure.

"Put it on" Tsuna ordered. The air began to shift with misty energy. Images of a body with an oddly fruit-like hair style began swirling around, and many more soldiers in a standby position became decloaked. The mountain was full of them, all of them wielding dangerous weaponry. "Don't hold back. Not a single ounce of power!" Tsuna shouted. Hibari slipped on his ring and equipped his tonfa. The Vongola Guardians, including Chrome from the cabin, and even Dino, stood tall and ready as the soldiers all moved in, clashing in a violent explosion of power!

* * *

"Kyoko-chan!" Ryohei shouted to his sibling's body. "Please, wake up! Can't you tell the voice of your Onii-san? Come on, wake up!" Bianchi paced over and grabbed his ear to pull him away from his resting sister.

"Shouting won't help her recover" Bianchi chided. "Can't you calm down like the rest of us!?"

"That's right!" Haru said, tears still clinging in her eyes from the relief of the news that Tsuna was okay. "You should believe that she'll get better! Just like how we all believed that they were alive the whole time!"

"I'm sorry!" Ryohei apologized. "I was just worried."

"She'll be fine" a medical mafioso from Dino's family said. "She doesn't have hypothermia, she's just lightheaded from fainting before being rescued."

"But she'll wake up, right doc!?" Ryohei pleaded.

"I just said she would" the doctor cautiously replied. "Just leave her be and keep her warm. She'll wake up once her body has readjusted to everything." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the medic left.

"What a great relief" Haru sighed. "Someone should go tell Chrome-chan that everyone's okay. She seemed to be the most worried."

"She's in her room" Bianchi said.

"I'll tell her" Ryohei said.

"No" Reborn ordered, slapping him down to the ground. "I'll tell Chrome-chan that they're okay."

"Oh" Ryohei dizzily said. "Okay, little dude. You can go..." Reborn hopped up to the third floor and peeked into Chrome's room. Sure enough, she already knew. She used her mist ring to harvest upon all of her powers and conjure 'real' illusions far away on the battlefield. Reborn nodded, signifying that all was right with the crime world, and began to leave. Just as he closed her door, however, Chrome came out of her trance with a start. She laid back in her bed and started panting, the energy she expended nearly toppling the other illusionary organs she supported.

_Boss..._ she solemnly thought. Sure enough, about ten minutes later, Chrome returned downstairs in her nightgown to meet Dino coming in the door with the unconscious Tsuna on his shoulder. Dino's clothes were tattered and full of small holes. There was a thin trail of blood running down his mouth. Chrome observed everyone who came through the door and illusioned over their gravest wounds. Gokudera's head was bleeding slightly, Yamamoto had a nasty bruise near his temple, Adult Lambo was looking thrashed as usual; she nearly strained herself as she taxed her powers to the limit to protect Haru's concern alone.

"He fainted" Dino explained. He cleared the long couch and laid the Vongola down on it with Kyoko on the couch adjacent to him. It seemed fitting to him. "His temperature is dangerously low."

"No..." Haru quivered. Bianchi pulled her aside and held her as she slowly worked up a dangerous sob. Then, Hibari came in. His shirt was covered in more foreign blood and oil than anyone else. He made a clean break for the stairs, ignoring Chrome peeking around the corner, and ran upstairs.

"Medics!" Dino shouted.

"Yes sir!" four men with contagion masks replied.

"Make sure Tsuna is okay" he ordered. "You three, come with me" he now directed at the other boys.

"What about Hibari-san?" Lambo asked.

"What about him?" Gokudera replied nastily.

"He might not want to hear it" Yamamoto whispered properly. Lambo shrugged and painfully followed them outside. Once they were gone from view, Haru deactivated her illusions on them once more.

"Thank you" Reborn whispered to her. He was perched on her frail shoulder, much to her shock at first. "Haru wouldn't have taken it well if she saw them all. You've done well." Chrome couldn't work up the nerve to respond verbally so she nodded with a stern, serious face. "You should go out there as well..." Reborn suggested. Then he hopped off her shoulder and let her decide her actions while he walked over to Tsuna.

"Poor Tsuna-san..." Haru sniffled. I-pin came up and looked at the sleeping, peaceful Tsuna curiously. She knew he was sleeping, but his face was so clear of harm and his body was so chilled form the snow that he didn't seem to be hurt at all. A quick snap of air breezed through the room and the door was heard shutting.

* * *

"I was hoping you'd get out here" Dino admitted seeing Chrome in the doorway. She stepped shyly over to the gathered group, with Dino and his men facing the semi-circled Vongola Guardians.

"We haven't quite met, have we?" Lambo asked Chrome. "I'm Lambo from the future. How do you do?"

"I'm...okay" Chrome answered.

"Gokudera-kun" Dino started. "I have to commend you. You took a bullet for your boss without even thinking. That's true Guardian behavior."

"I would have done it no matter what" Gokudera sternly said, wincing at the pain from the complimented wound in his side. "The Boss is the Boss, and we can never replace him. I'd've died for him. It's what a right hand ma-"

"And you Chrome-chan" Dino now started.

"I wasn't done!" Gokudera shouted. Dino ignored him and smiled at the cautious girl.

"You really helped us up there" Dino complimented. "If you hadn't exposed those soldiers, we wouldn't have won. You even protected us with your mist powers and took them out, somehow."

"I..." she shyly cooed, "...it wasn't all me. Mukuro-sama was there too." The rest of the boys, except Lambo, equipped angry looks at his name. "Uh...I probably shouldn't bring this up, but Mukuro-sama was the one who stepped in and fought them with you. I just concentrated on where he had to be. I didn't even know I could do that, I just desperately wanted to help the Boss..."

"And you did" Dino said, "as unorthodox a method as it was. Employing the help of one of his own enemies to help him. It's verily a Mafia first."

"I'm sorry" Chrome apologetically shouted.

"You shouldn't be" Yamamoto said, laying a calming hand on her. "You helped us, you and Mukuro-san."

"We just don't like him because he nearly killed all of us a while back..." Gokudera added.

"I'm sure he's a stand-up guy" Lambo joked.

"Lambo-kun" Dino said with surprise. "You're still here?"

"I suppose so" Lambo said. "I might not be able to leave until the Young Vongola is feeling better. Who knows?"

"Yamamoto-kun" Dino now began. "You were an astounding asset. I never knew you had such great skills with that sword."

"It wasn't my best" Yamamoto modestly admitted, "even though I'm not that great anyway. I just felt like I had to protect Tsuna-kun no matter what."

"What's what a good Guardian does" Dino said, nodding at Gokudera. With all the Guardians acknowledged, Dino extended a friendly hand to them. One at a time, they shook and bowed, seeing the Chiavorone boss and his men off on a snowmobile fleet that steered gracefully for their hidden mountain retreat.

"So, that's that?" Yamamoto asked. Gokudera grabbed the fedora from his head and shoved it in his face, a spiteful gag from his rival.

"That's it" Gokudera answered. "Let's head in and wash this day off."

"What about your wound?" Lambo asked.

"It'll heal" Gokudera stubbornly replied. "I'll keep that scar with pride, though."

"Everyone" Chrome softly announced. The snow started falling again, and even it seemed louder than she did. "Thank you...so much..." The boys smiled bashfully, even Gokudera had to turn away in embarrassment for having Mukuro's better half move him to blush. "But, it isn't over" she continued. The boys became a bit more startled this time. "I saw you guys fighting through Mukuro-sama's eyes. He told me that the Boss had overexerted himself beyond human limits. He said that if we can't effectively shock him out of his sleep, he might not wake up at all!" The boys were now in urgent shock. Gokudera made a rush for the door and busted inside.

* * *

Up on the second story, Haru searched around for a fresh towel in the towel closet, but found none. Someone had taken them all in passing. "Hahi, that's rude" she observed. "I need a towel for Tsuna-san and Kyoko-chan's head. Where can I find one..." She ascended the steps to the third floor and thought she heard a bird happily chirping. She ignored it, seeing that it was almost completely dark out, and opened another closet. Inside was the body of the resort manager, propped up against the wall with tape over his mouth and broken glasses. Haru slammed the door shut, pretended she never saw that, and walked into the bathroom to scream bloody murder...


	30. The World of Frozen Fire

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

"Great" Gokudera growled. "That's three unconscious people to take care of..." He referred, of course, to Haru whom they had just found upstairs in the bathroom with foam bubbling from her mouth. Then they found the body that made her scream and, considering all that happened, chucked it outside in the snow. A blizzard advisory had just been broadcast in the area, so the Vongola cabin's electrical power was questionable.

"Are you sure this will work, Chrome-chan?" Yamamoto asked. Chrome sat at the edge of Tsuna's couch, concentrating her power into her ring which glowed with a purple flame.

"I can't say" Chrome said. "If the Boss is still active subconsciously, I may be able to jar him awake. However, I could be risking myself if all of my power gets used up in this. Therefore, Mukuro-sama and I will temporarily switch bodies so I can stay alive while searching for Tsuna-san within his mind."

"So" Gokudera started, "Mukuro will take control of you?"

"Yes, that's right" she answered. "However, because of how delicate this will be both ways, Mukuro-sama already knows that I can't move while I'm inside Tsuna-san. You shouldn't have any trouble...I hope."

"Well, just in case" Gokudera began, reaching for the trident on the floor, "I'm keeping this away form you. Once Mukuro is in your body he may get tricky and try to stab at us with it."

"I'll hold onto it" Yamamoto offered.

"Yeah right" Gokudera replied, pulling the spear away, nearly cutting Ryohei behind him. "You'll probably fall for his feint and give him the spear! You're too gullible to hold onto this."

"Then let me do it!" Ryohei shouted, snatching it away. Chrome watched in horror as her momentous keepsake was forcibly passed between the overly anxious young men who vied for it. She stood up and grabbed at the spear herself, which the guys let go of immediately. She was very stern and serious about keeping by it.

"Uh, sorry Chrome-chan" Yamamoto apologized.

"It's okay" she said with her back facing them. Gokudera growled, still very untrusting of the ritual.

_Diving into the Boss's mind to wake him up _Gokudera scolded. _I'd rather do it myself. I don't trust Mukuro or Chrome to go anywhere near his head!_

"How long will this take?" Ryohei asked. "I'll be glad if Sawada-san can pull through, but what about Kyoko-chan? Can you do the same for her, magical pineapple girl?" Chrome's shoulders jerked at the ridiculous nickname, but she turned to answer anyway.

"Well, With Kyoko-chan it's just fatigue" she explained. "With Tsuna-san, it's much more serious. His Dying Will is frozen on the inside form overuse in battle."

"Hmm" Ryohei growled. "Got it. We'll focus on Sawada-san now while we can. Good luck to you, girl. I'll look after my sister while you guys sort this out." Ryohei went good on his word and started marching for the kitchen to fetch a fresh towel for Kyoko-s head. Chrome repositioned herself once more when a thudding was heard upstairs.

"Gah!" Gokudera gasped. "That's right! Hibari-san hates Mukuro more than any of us! If he found out that guy would be here, he'd kill us all!"

"Relax, Gokudera-kun" Yamamoto pleaded. "He might just kill Mukuro-san." Chrome gasped in terror at his conclusive reasoning. Both boys formed the same idea to block the staircase and prevent Hibari from coming downstairs, but Yamamoto got there first.

"Alright then" Gokudera said. "I'll stay next to the 10th and make sure he's okay while Chrome-chan works." Chrome began to harness her energy once more as Gokudera paced over. He sat next to her and watched her carefully. She reached with her hands together, her ring emitting the Mist flame as it spread into her hand and then covered Tsuna's forehead. Chrome's head tilted up and her eye began to glow with swirling light. Gokudera leaned in to see if he could tell whether or not it was working.

"**Kufufufufu**" lowed a dangerous, manly voice from Chrome's mouth.

"Okay" Gokudera shivered, "that's wrong. I guess it's working then..." Chrome had indeed used her illusion ability to delve straight into Tsuna's mind, where she found herself in a schoolroom.

* * *

"Ah?" Chrome grunted quizzically. "The Boss was even thinking of school while he was fighting? How strange..." She walked around the room, noticing cardboard cut-outs of all Tsuna's classmates, including the Guardians. What was odd with them was their appearance. They looked half-dead, with wounds and scars decorating their faces and bodies. On Yamamoto's desk was a fedora, stained with blood. On Gokudera's desk was a carton of cigarettes and a lighter. She looked for her boss, but couldn't find him.

"He must be worried" Chrome said to herself "that he might not return to this life again. His Mafia life may consume him in all places...poor Boss." She left the room and continued to search. Lonely cardboard standees littered the halls and rooms. Occasionally, she could see the rare Vongola cut out with an item of interest on the desk. Ryohei and his boxing gloves. Hibari and his birdcage with the cardboard bird. Chrome looked outside and, shockingly, found her boss. There was a huge glacier of ice amidst the buildings of town where she could feel Tsuna's energy. It was trapped, like heat inside a can, and had the ominous feeling that it would burst and destroy everything with a hail of icy shrapnel at any second.

"Oh no!" Chrome shouted. She jumped out of the second story window of the imaginary world and drifted down to a soft landing on her feet in the courtyard. Then, she dashed across the ground with amazing speed on one foot. "The Boss must have suppressed all his energy so he wouldn't use it all up! If I can't get him to release it, his body may shut down completely!" Chrome increased her speed, but as she approached the ice she began to slow down. Soon, she could feel herself fading from the world she was in and increased her power.

"I can't keep this up for long..." Chrome reminded herself. "I need to find the Boss!" So she sprinted, an exercise she wasn't used to, all the way to the base of the glacier. At the top of a frozen staircase was Tsuna, half-coated in his own frozen flame. Chrome climbed the steps and took a moment to rest before confronting her boss.

"Chrome...chan..." a tired voice called. Chrome looked up at the barely living Tsuna, blood on his face and spiky ice jutting from his hands. "What...where...?"

"Boss!" she desperately called out. "You have to melt this ice! Release some of your power! Your body is having a huge Dying Will Flame withdrawal. You could die!"

"That doesn't make sense" Tsuna panted. "If I'm about to die...my Dying Will Flame will kick itself in, just like it did back there..."

"Back there?" Chrome repeated. "Boss, you activated it yourself?" Tsuna nodded weakly. Chrome took a few more steps forward and gently placed a hand on Tsuna's cheek. It was warm, unlike the ice around him. "Why did you do this, Boss?"

"My flame..." he started, "I couldn't control it...Mukuro was there, right?" Chrome nodded. "I thought so...I sort of felt him...and you...fighting with us up there...I knew that if my flame were to rage out of control...I could have hurt someone. Gokudera got hurt because of me anyway, so who's to say that...more innocent people wouldn't have...gotten...guuu..."

"Boss!" Chrome shouted. "BOSS!" Tsuna's head fell, half-dead, onto the ice. The frozen flame slowly started to creep up his chin and slowly neared his forehead. Chrome began to panic. She took her imaginary trident, manifested through the real one she held in the waking world, and stabbed at the ice with a purple flame. "Stop it, boss! You have to fight it!" Tsuna didn't listen. He just groaned. "What will the family do without you? Gokudera-kun...Yamamoto-kun!? What about Haru and Kyoko-senpai!? What about Hibari and I? Lambo-chan, and Dino-san...Boss! What about us!?" Something in Chrome's voice awakened Tsuna to reason. The ice slowly started to creep away and melt. His head came back up and, as his power came back, Chrome started to weaken. Her stabs weakened to the point where she couldn't support the illusionary trident anymore and dropped down. Tsuna looked down at her with concern.

"Chrome-chan" he softly said. Chrome struggled down to her hands and knees. "Chrome-chan" he repeated, more startled. Chrome gave out a gurgled cough, and though he couldn't see, he knew by the rising steam what she coughed up. Her stomach shrank suddenly. "Chrome-chan!"

"Chrome-chan isn't here, Vongola" a devious voice said. A tight hand suddenly gripped Tsuna's throat and pushed his head against the melting ice. He glared down the bridge of his nose at the playful, evil smile of Mukuro in his own dastardly winter garb. "It's just you and I now..."

"KCH!" Tsuna gasped.

"Are you prepared, Vongola?" Mukuro asked as he leaned in. "I shall show you the paths of pain that you are about to walk. Are you prepared for Hell, Sawada Tsunayoshi!?" Tsuna understood his circumstances. Now that Mukuro had invaded his world, it was no longer safe. He stirred up the flames that dwelt within him and blasted away the ice behind him. Then, he placed a hot hand on Mukuro's chest and blasted him as well. It did nothing.

"Kufufufu" Mukuro laughed. "Don't you know me anymore, Tsuna-kun? I am the master of illusions, the walker of the Six Paths of Reincarnation! Try as you might, but you won't harm me in here..." Mukuro took Tsuna and tossed him aside. Because it was Tsuna's world, he wasn't hurt, but he was jarred. "I shall awaken you by force if I must! Possessing you in this manner would be shameful and far to unsatisfying..." Tsuna growled and reactivated his lost flame. His gloves ignited at full blast. In this world, where the sky stretches on forever with the same peaceful blue, Tsuna was in total control. His adrenaline gathered within him and his entire body combusted with orange fire! Mukuro watched on from the quickly dissolving glacier and smiled. He summoned his trident from the real world and prepared himself for a fight.

"Come, Vongola" Mukuro hissed. "Come and wake yourself up!" Tsuna exploded forward and punched with his phoenix-fired fist at Mukuro. He blocked, but was sent flying through a series of buildings. The fiery Tsuna hovered above the ground and crossed his arms in front of his face. The battle for Tsuna's mind and body was on!

* * *

"Kufufufu..." Chrome mantra'd in her own voice. Gokudera was startled back into awareness. Although barely any time had passed in the world that Chrome was in, hours had passed in the real world and Gokudera was drifting to sleep.

"Go to bed, Gokudera-kun" Yamamoto pleaded. "It's nearly one o'clock. I'll watch for a while."

"Yeah right" Gokudera lowed. "You'll slip up..."

"Hayato-chan" Bianchi said with order. "Your wound won't heal if you don't rest."

"How'd you know?" Gokudera asked.

"Please" Bianchi said. "I'm a professional assassin. I know a bullet wound when I see one..." Gokudera hung his head shamefully. Yamamoto smiled and took a seat on the floor. Gokudera carried Haru upstairs, following his sister to their room. He had no intention of sleeping to far away from the Boss now that he knew he could be waking up soon.

"I wish I could ask how it's going" Yamamoto thought out loud.

"I know" Ryohei said, yawning afterwards behind him. "I want to know just what's going on. Besides, the sooner she finishes with Sawada-san, the sooner she can start to help Kyoko-chan..."

"Well..." Yamamoto began, but didn't finish. He saw how worried Ryohei was about his little sister, nodding off a little bit as he kept his eyes fixed on her face. Yamamoto smiled and nodded, turning back to the glowing Chrome. She had a small blanket of mist gathered around her legs, which seemed to be chilling her legs as they were riddled with goosebumps. Yamamoto, against his better judgment, decided to put a blanket over the weary-looking Chrome to warm her up. It didn't disrupt her position, so he thought it was alright. He took a look at Tsuna, his Mafia boss, and smiled.

_Everything will work out _Yamamoto convinced himself. _I have faith...in everybody..._ Despite his best intentions, he fell asleep. Even Gokudera was to weary to continue down the pets and fell asleep upstairs as well...

The whole house slept except Reborn, who sat on top of the couch and watched over Chrome in case Mukuro took her over.

"We're all counting on you, Chrome-chan" Reborn said to the comatose girl. "We all know that you or Mukuro will pull through. Don't make us hold our breath..."


	31. Pheonix Fire Tsunayoshi v Mukuro Rokudo

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

"Kufufufu" Mukuro playfully giggled. "You're so feisty, Tsunayoshi-kun."

"Don't mock me!" the fiery, Flame-covered Tsuna growled. They clashed violently once more in the air, shattering the imaginary scenery around them. Mukuro's Mist energy held fast at Tsuna's immense real power. His illusion was, for now, much stronger than Tsuna could keep up with. So they fought in Tsuna's world of Frozen Fire. No clouds moved, no grass shifted, only bent when stepped on an vanished when incinerated. Only Tsuna and Mukuro existed in this world, and neither intended to budge to the other.

"You've grown very strong" Mukuro said. "That's quite good."

"How?" Tsuna growled. "You think you'll be able to possess me and take my body now? With all my power? You couldn't if you tried!"

"Oh no!?" Mukuro shouted. Instantly, he vanished. Tsuna's reborn Hyper Intuition found him descending with his trident pointed and ready for Tsuna's skull. With his entire body aflame, Tsuna exploded away without moving and hovered safely in the air. Mukuro's trident broke into the stagnant ground and began to slowly break apart the reality around it. With a shattering crash, the very air broke apart like glass, revealing a twisting, incomprehensible new vision from Mukuro's demented mind. His eye was set on the 'Hell' realm, the realm of illusions.

"Let us move the playing field" Mukuro lowed with a grin, pointing his spear up at his opponent, "Sawada-san..." Tsuna growled. Without an explosion Tsuna vanished, reappearing far overhead. The flames around his body had dampened into a light, glowing aura that started to gather into his hands.

"Mukuro!" Tsuna shouted. The flames from his body concentrated and roared out from his gloves, creating a terrible, swirling vortex of fire that ignited all that it touched. Even the air caught fire as the wave traveled. Mukuro, still grinning his horrible grin, fled to the realm of 'Asura' and held back the whole of Tsuna's attack with only his spear.

"Our minds are no longer totally separate, Tsuna-kun" Mukuro said, knowing Tsuna could hear him throughout his whole mind. "You guardian, Chrome, has already opened the gate for you and I to reunite, and I intend on dragging you through it!"

"How?" Tsuna asked, only a few feet away with his Zero Point Breakthrough position. "You can't move right now..." Mukuro slowly tilted his head over, the first mistake he made, allowing the flame around his right eye to freeze through Tsuna's Breakthrough. With his realm closed, the tower of flame blasted down upon him and crushed him into the ground. Since the ground was perfectly solid, he just laid there steaming for a bit.

"Kufufu..." Mukuro laughed, nearly trailing off into a cough. "You don't even realize what has happened, do you?" Tsuna hovered, still glowing with fire, and leaned in to listen. "All those men, even those robots, you and your family destroyed them. Regardless to how careful you were up there, they can no longer fight. And what is a soldier that can't fight? Nothing. You have taken the lives from those men. How are you sure they won't kill themselves overnight?"

"Suicide after losing a fight" Tsuna said "is a foolish thing to consider. They all knew they couldn't win. I could see that in their eyes."

"Kufu..." Mukuro coughed. "Suicide is foolish? And you call yourself Japanese, a race that has long been ritually gutting themselves after only a minor embarrassment..."

"Mukuro" Tsuna lowed. Suddenly, the sky started moving. The imaginary sun was shining and the wind gently blew the grass around Mukuro's paralyzed body. His second mistake was attempting to rile Tsuna in his own mind. He knew that Tsuna would win the fight, so he attempted to put one more scar on his face. But Tsuna, undaunted by what Mukuro had so plainly said, only raised up his fiery palm with his own friendly, honest smile on his face. "It's not like you to care about others."

"..." Mukuro, for once, was at a loss for words, so he simply laughed and placed his finger tips upon his forehead and continued laughing. "You're right" he finally said. "Sorry that I tried..." Tsuna looked down on him, a look of pity but pride, and unleashed his energy in full force.

* * *

It was still mid-morning, still dark out, when the Mist energy spiked from Tsuna and blew back into Chrome. She went from comatose from concentration to just comatose, fainting from the shock of power that had coursed through her in an instant. Tsuna still slept but his flame was awake again. His life was no longer in danger. Even the fire in the room picked up out of happiness. Everyone slept soundly, Tsuna more so than anyone, and nothing stirred the silence. Then, with a soft cooing, Kyoko woke up. She rubbed her eyes and slowly got up, just now realizing that she was alive.

"Am I...?" she asked with a gasp. She felt at her face and her chest, searching for a heartbeat. She sighed with relief that it was there. "What happened?" she asked herself as if she knew the answer. "Tsu-" He was on the couch near her. She sighed again, this time much louder and deeper than when she realized that she was fine. She decided to get up and walk over to her savior, however he had done it and regardless to how she knew. No one else was in the room, the fire was dying down at last, a calming blue came in through the window; it looked peaceful. What's more, the floor was frightfully cold and she winced when she touched it.

"Tsuna-kun" she whispered, making her way over. "I'm not sure how, but I know you did this." She knelt down at his side and placed a hand on his chest. "Thank you..." He still slept, still as ice. Kyoko looked outside where the moonlight was bright enough for all the falling snow to be seen. It kept falling, flake by flake, enticing Kyoko to watch and letting her hand wander. She thought she felt at something wooden and cold, but when she jumped and looked she only saw Tsuna. Curious, she felt his head.

Ice cold.

"Tsuna-kun?" she cooed, shaking him slightly. Still he didn't move. Nothing moved but her. Even the light from the dim fire refused to flicker anymore, casting a still shadow that was cast over the wall across from the hearth. "Tsuna-kun?" she repeated with more worry and harder shaking. Nothing. She grabbed at his face by the cheeks, which were still ice cold, and started breathing quickly. "Tsuna-kun, wake up. Wake up!" She started shaking him by his unmoving chest, panting harder and harder each time he didn't move. "Tsuna-kun!? Tsuna!!" She couldn't feel it, but tears were forming in her eyes. She could see her skin in the light. It wasn't blue like his, like everything else was, it was bright and rosy. She was warm and fine, but Tsuna was...well...

"NO!" she shouted, grabbing his shoulders and moving him from under his blanket. "Tsuna-kun, wake up now! You have to! You're not allowed..." she couldn't say it. "You can't be..." again, she couldn't say it and trailed off into tears. Desperate to cling to her own doubts, Kyoko weakly pounded at Tsuna's chest while keeping her head buried in her arms. She felt how warm her tears were, which only made Tsuna's chill seem more apparent. Then, inspiration.

"You can't die, Tsuna" she sternly quivered, She took her hands to his face, parted his lips and started breathing into him. However long he'd been dead, she didn't care. Whatever it took she wouldn't stop until she could see him stirring again. She sobbed and panted each time she left his mouth, attempting CPR as hard as she knew how. She threw her entire weight against his chest as she tried in vain to pump his heart. He still never moved alone, no breath or light came from him, and he even stayed blue as the yellow morning sun came through the window. Kyoko, exhausted, collapsed on him, panting hard her steamy breath.

* * *

Again, Kyoko woke up, this time with total shock on her face. The room was the same, although more than just Tsuna's body was unconscious in front of the fire. Everyone was there, everyone that wasn't there before. Even Chrome was asleep on the floor where Kyoko had broken down moments ago in her dream. It was indeed morning, and everything was colored the way it should be. Still, the dream frightened her too much, and she shot up despite her fever and rushed to Tsuna's side. She held her breath and moved a nervous hand to his head.

Warm. Even hot.

She sighed with relief, deeper than she had ever remembered sighing before. She could see his chest moving as he breathed, feel his heartbeat, see the color in his face and his lips...lips that she had already felt in her dream. She became uneasy and anxious, then calm and fluid. She edged herself in close to Tsuna, preparing to give him part of an unnecessary CPR.

"Tsuna-kun..." she whispered. "..." she couldn't bring herself to say the next part. Saying thank you is hard when you're kissing someone, after all. As an added relief, Tsuna's lips were just as warm as hers, if not warmer. Her nerves melted from his warm kiss, and she felt so calm and peaceful that she even sounded off her kiss a little with a soft moan.

"Yare yare" a voice from the stairs said. "This resort must run on those soldiers. That was the coldest shower I ever..." Adult Lambo, still stuck in time, came from upstairs in a towel and saw a conscious Kyoko attempting to wake the sleeping Tsuna with her kiss. She didn't notice him for a bit, but he stood at the stairs and watched with a cocked brow and a cocky smile. When she did see him, her embarrassment returned and forced her away quickly. "Ah, young love" Lambo said with a laugh. "I remember my first kiss as well. I'm sure you'll be happy together." Kyko stuttered franticly with arms flailing in protest to the odd cow-boy's mocking.

"W-wait a sec!" she pleaded. "This isn't...I wasn't, I...He! You!?" Lambo chuckled lightly at her franticness and sat himself down on the unoccupied couch.

"Come now" Lambo said. "You seem to be the only one of us who didn't really know it..." Kyoko calmed down a bit and settled herself on the floor with a sigh.

"He did save me, didn't he?" she asked.

"Oh, yes" Lambo answered. "It was magnificent, too. He really loves you if he exerted that much energy digging you up..." Kyoko immediately pictured Tsuna, for some reason in his underwear, raging upwards through the snow while she slept in his one arm. It was a provocative image that forced her to giggle out her answer.

"He did?" she started happily. "Good. If he loves me, he better have saved me..." She started to tear up. Lambo smiled down at her with his one open eye, the first guardian to observe the magically peaceful scene of the king and future queen Vongolas.


	32. From the Slippery Slopes of Love

Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

* * *

The morning after the chaotic last day, the Vongola cabin was just barely stirring. All the weary guardians continued to leisurely nap in the foyer, Tsuna at the center of everyones unconscious attention. Lambo changed into his normal, formal cow-print shirt and returned back downstairs to see Hibari sitting on the empty couch watching the news.

"Oh" Lambo started. "You're up as well?" Hibari didn't acknowledge him, he just sat straight and watched television. Kyoko's face was still rested on Tsuna's chest. She felt quite content to just listen to his heart beating now that she knew he was okay. Chrome was moved closer to the fire so she could warm up from being up most of the night mentally tending to her Boss. "How is he?" Lambo now asked Kyoko.

"He's fine..." she cooed. Lambo smiled. It was good for him to know that everything seemed to be okay, even if he _was_ still stuck in the past. Then, a knock on the door. Lambo glanced at Hibari, thinking he'd answer it since his Boss was incapacitated, but Lambo decided to take it upon himself anyway.

"Coming!" Lambo shouted. He opened the door and greeted the two young stewardesses with his awesome smile. The girls almost instantly broke down into a deep blush and started giggling wildly once they recognized the handsome young man. "Yes?" he said. The girls both shrieked.

"You're the super hot Cow-man!" one of the noted. Lambo blinked.

"Every girl on the mountain knows you!" the other said. "You won that race the other day!"

"Oh no" Lambo started modestly, "I tied. In all honesty, I believe that man truly won." He pointed to the other recognizable hottie among the girls, Hibari, who still didn't move to acknowledge him.

"Yeah right" the girls whispered. "You definitely won. He was just being a jerk and hitting people the whole time."

"And besides" the other said "even if he's hot, he's _waaay_ to scary to even consider dating." Hibari, still maintaining a cool disposition, became infuriated but refused to show it. His eyes rolled into his head out of malice.

"...anyway" Lambo began, trying to get back on topic and prevent a Hibari-related catastrophe, "I think I understand why you two are here. We need to vacate the premises, or something like that?"

"Oh...yes" the girls answered sadly. "But before that, can we get an autograph?"

"Certainly" Lambo said, trying to be modest. He reached over for a pen, having to sidetrack a bit back inside, and fumbled his way back to the door. "Do you have something for me to sign?" he asked.

"Oh...sort of" the girls giggled. The both unzipped their coats and lifted their shirts. "Just find a good spot, 'kay?" Lambo stared for a second, allowing all the blood to rush up from his gut into his face. The force of his explosive nose bleed propelled him backwards and onto the floor. The girls, embarrassed, shut the door and left tittering happily that they got something (his blood) out of the deal.

"Are you alright, Lambo-kun!?" Kyoko sounded off, still pressed against Tsuna. Lambo bleated and gurgled in his own blood.

"Tol...er...ate..." he lowed. Hibari's expression returned to normal after seeing the cowboy get his just desserts for fame. Suddenly, the entire room began to stir. Gokudera and Yamamoto rubbed the sun from their eyes, then Haru and Bianchi woke up and looked around curiously. Chrome stirred momentarily, but the exhaustion forced her back to sleep. Lambo pushed himself up a bit and saw everyone getting up. Then, he exploded in a cloud of pink.

"Kyoko...chan" Tsuna groaned. Kyoko lifted her head up and looked at Tsuna's face. His eyes were finally opened. "Ugh...what happened?" He got up, rubbed his head with his mitten and looked down at Kyoko. Her eyes were sparkling like stars, staring hotly into his soul. His body felt warm, especially his face, and he smiled.

"Tsuna-kun" Kyoko whispered, leaning in. "Thank you." She kissed him. With everyone in the room she didn't want to overdo it, but Tsuna's cheek still felt wonderfully warm and cozy afterwards. Everyone took their turn sobbingly greeting and happily cheering Tsuna while Kyoko let them crowd him. Everyone was happy that he was up, except Hibari who sat in front of the TV after trying to drown out the noise and Ryohei who was still asleep.

* * *

"_Attention resort goers_" the women on the PA said. "_The train will be arriving for all local stops and all subsequent stops in Tokyo. Afterwards, the private charter trolley for the 'Vongola' reservation will arrive. That is all._" The intercom beeped off in the terminal. Plenty of people were going home now that all the chaos had stirred up the mountain side. The reports of the avalanche and the fact that two children were trapped in it for several hours wasn't a great thing for the other vacationers to look forward to.

"It's great to have you back, Boss!" Gokudera cheered. Tsuna grinned at his enthusiastic friend. He had said that several hundred times already.

"How's Chrome-chan doing?" Tsuna asked Yamamoto. She was still asleep, wrapped in Yamamoto's coat from the exhaustion channeling she had to do.

"She's fine" Yamamoto said. "Still sleeping. So what exactly happened?" he asked. Tsuna's grin dropped to a serious sort of frown. He took a good hard look at his hand, flexing it to make sure he could still feel it. The details of the dream fight were as vivid as when they happened. His mind was still swimming with questions he needed answered from Chrome, most of which were relayed through Hibari out of heated curiosity.

"Perhaps you should just trust Tsuna" Reborn started from Yamamoto's fedora. "It's not something that the family should worry about."

"Yeah" Tsuna said. Whatever would make it easier for everyone to believe, even if he had to stay silent, would be best.

"The train should be coming along anytime now" Reborn said. "I hope he isn't late..."

"Who?" Tsuna asked. Then he was answered. Dino and all his men came marching into the station. Dino was wrapped casually in heavy bandages, unlike most of the Vongolas who wore their pain in the open.

"Eh?" Ryohei grunted, still barely awake enough to sit up straight. "You guys are here too?"

"Yup" Dino said. "We chartered the train that's picking you guys up and we're riding with you."

"That was nice of you, Dino-san" Kyoko said.

"So you're both okay, Tsuna-kun?" Dino asked to him and Kyoko at once. They both glanced at each other, then darted their heads away and shyly nodded. _This is a Mafia leader?_ Dino thought to himself.

"I refuse to share a cabin with you" Hibari said blatantly to Dino.

"Hey!" Ryohei shouted. "What's with that attitude!? These guys bought us a train to use and you're saying that kind of crap!? I'm not putting up with you for another train ride, dammit!"

"Onii-san" Kyoko started. "Just calm down. Kyoya-san can sit by himself if he wants!"

"I'm not letting him get his way again!" Ryohei insisted. "You better get ready for a---"

"ONII-SAN!!!" Kyoko roared. Ryohei froze in place. The entire terminal stopped moving. The clouds in the sky even stopped for a moment and a chilly wind blew through the terminal. Kyoko glared him down as hard as she could, then sat down in a huff. Ryohei just stood perfectly still, as if his sister was a dog that would bite off his head if he moved an inch.

"...wow..." Haru whispered.

"I've never heard you that angry before" Tsuna chuckled.

"Well, fighting wouldn't help us do anything at this point" Kyoko argued. She moved in closer to Tsuna and Gokudera moved out of the way in respect. "I guess facing death gave me a new outlook on things. I can't always just be soft and bendable to other people all the time. Sometimes, you have to force your way to work..." She looked over at Tsuna with her glistening eyes and saw him kindly smile. He knew what she was talking about. He temporarily lived it against Mukuro.

"Yeah" Tsuna said.

"_Attention_" the announcement went off again, "_ the reserved train for the Vongola party is now arriving. Will everyone within said party please board the train immediately, as it will be departing on schedule."_

"Well, you heard her" Gokudera said. "Let's go home." The train pulled in, no less normal besides the obvious 'Vongola' family emblems everywhere, and they all got on. Tsuna too a seat near the middle, with Yamamoto on his left and Kyoko on his immediate right. Chrome woke up and was wearily dragged to a seat across from Tsuna by Haru. The children, being Lambo and I-pin, refused to sit and just ran around. Dino's men occupied the next car down, while Dino and Romario sat with the Vongolas. Gokudera sat beside Kyoko to get close to the Boss and Ryohei sat next to him because he was close to his sister. Hibari got his own private car...again, and Reborn was content on Tsuna's shoulder. During the course of the long ride, Kyoko became comfortable on his shoulder as well.

* * *

In time, the long ride took its tole. Even stir crazy Ryohei fell asleep from the gentle rocking of the metal on tracks. Gokudera had passed out because Bianchi forgot to keep her goggles on, but he stayed asleep anyway. The only ones awake were Hibari as he tended to his bird, Most of Dino's men, and of course Tsuna and Kyoko.

"Kyoko-chan" Tsuna whispered, "there's something I need to tell you..."

"I know" she whispered back. "You saved me. Thank you so much, Tsuna-kun. I don't know how, but I'll try and make it up to you..."

"That's not it" Tsuna interrupted. "You see...all this Mafia stuff that we do is real. I don't know how I can explain this gently, but we're a real crime family. I never wanted to get dragged into it, but that's where I am now. We've all risked our lives almost countless times already for virtually no reason, but I don't want one of those reasons to be you." Kyoko looked up at him, confused, and felt soft tears forming in her eyes. "Kyoko-chan" Tsuna said, choking back his sobs, "I did save you...but I don't want to have to save you again. Please, if you want to be safe, stay away from me...and us..."

"Tsuna-kun" she replied, "I don't care about that." Tsuna's eyes shot open. He turned to her with his mouth wide open in shock and confusion from her reply. "If it's real or not...and how you saved me, I don't care. I want to be with you Tsuna...honestly, I have for a while, I just couldn't admit it to myself. I'm so embarrassed..." She buried her face in his shoulder, giving him time to retrieve his soul from leaking out of his mouth. The sheer scope of events that was happening right now was barely believable to him.

Chrome silently stirred, just barely awake now, and peeked through her eye across the aisle.

"You...really don't care?" Tsuna nervously said. Kyoko shook her head into his arm. "But...but what about Mafia wars? Crime wars! People with guns in cars, dive-by shootings, dogfights! Although, those are with fighter planes, I'm sure there are Mafias with planes in their disposal! Even Dino's in the Mafia, why else would he have all those guys with him!?"

"Tsuna-kun" Kyoko cooed. She brought up a finger to his mouth and shushed him. "As long as I'm with you, I won't have to worry about that, right?" Tsuna was taken by surprise with her trust. "I have faith in you, Tsuna. No matter what you and everyone else has always pulled through before. You're just to good of a person to give up on anyone, Tsuna-kun...I'll stay by your side no matter what."

"Kyoko...chan" Tsuna said in astonishment. Chrome used all her personal restrain to not 'awe' or 'ooh' at the scene and disturb Haru beside her. An in-fight with the unofficial Vongola women would only bring unnecessary trouble. However, she did have an idea to seal the couple together perfectly. First, she dully used her powers to incrementally move Tsuna's head forward in Kyoko's eyes. Then, she did the revers to Tsuna. He knew what was happening of course, but his hormones refused his Hyper Intuition to recognize it.

"Kyoko-chan" Tsuna began again, moving closer for real, "I...I...uh..." he was choking on his words, Kyoko smiled radiantly at him and forced him to finally say it. "I love you..."

"Tsuna-kun" she cooed. They moved in close, lips pursed, and kissed. Chrome smiled discretely and closed her eye once again, faithful that everything would work out wonderfully in the end. The mid-day sun cast a beautiful silhouette of Tsuna and Kyoko together against the floor of the train. Eventually, after a satisfyingly long kiss, the parted, rested their foreheads against each other and smiled.

"...idiots..." Hibari lowed, glancing into the window. "Love has no place in the Mafia world..."

* * *

And so concludes this story of utter chaos in the Vongola name. Love eventually triumphed in the end, as it often does, and the family had settled down into peace once more. This, of course, can only be considered a part of a much larger story, the beginning of a much larger tale. With Tsuna and Kyoko now together in spite of what hardships may come, who will stand up and challenge their bond? Mukuro? Hibari? Will Haru make a stand and tear apart the Mafia world for Tsuna alone!? Only one thing can be certain from this tale: Tsuna x Kyoko is THE one true pairing of _Katekyoushi Hitman Reborn!_


End file.
